HOUSEHOLDERS in Horsforth, Aireborough and parts of Wharfedale will have to pay a higher council tax bill for the coming year.
Leeds City Council has approved a 1.99 per cent rise, which amounts to 43p extra per week for Band D homes.
Councillors also rubber-stamped a 2.88 per cent increase in council housing rents when they met last week. A £7.39 per week rise in council tenants’ garage rents was approved too.
Council leader Councillor Keith Wakefield (Lab, Kippax & Methley) said the tax increase, which follows three years of it being frozen, was necessary in the face of “brutal” government cuts.
He stressed, though, that the council remained committed to protecting services for children, the disabled and the elderly – with 60 per cent of its budget dedicated to those sectors.
Leeds says it has seen its central government funding cut by by £94 million over the past three years, with a further ten per cent reduction being imposed this year.
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