Council tax bills set to rise by 3.8 per cent for Bolton residents as budget set

Council tax bills for Bolton residents will rise by 3.8 per cent from April after the authority set a budget last night.

The council made changes to their two-year budget agreed in February 2021 which imposed massive cuts of £37M.

Leader of the minority Conservative controlled council, Coun Martyn Cox told the council that an increased government funding settlement meant that £4M of planned cuts could be shelved.

Adult services will now be able to stave off £2.9M of planned cutbacks with reductions to children’s services mitigated by a further £1.1M.

The draft 2022/23 budget would see Bolton Council’s portion of the bill rise by 3.12 per cent.

Coun Cox, said that was lower than the optional maximum increase which was available to the council.

The increase includes an extra 1.13 per cent on the adult social care precept which provides ring-fenced funding to support vulnerable adults.

Changes to Bolton Council’s element of the council tax are the equivalent of 63p a week for a typical Band A property.

The mayoral precept, which is decided by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, would take the overall increase to 3.8.per cent.

The council also plugged into the budget an extra £1m of funding for highways, divided equally among the town’s 20 wards, together with £100,000 to improve parking near Moss Bank Park.

Coun Cox, said: “This is year two of a two-year budget cycle.

“Of the 36.5M savings identified more than 70m per cent has been achieved.

“I take the responsibility of budget setting seriously.

“We have had an open and transparent process and consulted widely to produce a fair budget.

“We aim to strike the right balance for the hard working taxpayers of Bolton who pay the bills and to the people that depend on our services.”