Dartford Borough Council has no plans to exploit new rules allowing local authorities to raise council tax and expects to be one of a small number of councils to freeze council tax for a further year.
We cannot control what other public bodies do but we have never been interested in following the herd or putting up local tax because those around us are doing so. The Government’s decision to raise the cap on what council’s may impose is largely irrelevant to the DBC component of the bill because we try to keep it as low as possible anyway. We were one of the few councils to freeze our tax last year and we propose to do so again in 2023. We plan no cuts to services so popular policies like weekly bin collections, our full programme of events and the delivery of successful new facilities for local families will continue.
We are planning to take a similar stance on the rents payable on council homes. Whilst Council rents may rise up up to 7% in some local areas Dartford is planning to keep rents frozen for another year. This proposal will benefit Council tenants for this year and going forward too.
The DBC charge is only ONE element of your local tax bill and that other authorities will make their own decisions about their charges. Dartford can only be accountable for the DBC element of the charge and our proposal is to make no increase.
Although a proposal to freeze council tax and not cut services is pretty ‘taxpayer friendly’ we would still like to hear your views on our DBC budget proposal, even if you support it. We’re also always happy to listen to any views about how the Council could improve.
Provide us with your comments or write to us by 9th February 2023 at:
Budget 2023, DBC Financial Services,
Civic Centre,
Home Gardens,
Dartford Kent
DA1 1DR
Jeremy Kite
Leader of the Council