Council tax to rise by almost 5% in East Sussex

Council tax in East Sussex is being upped by almost 5% to help deal with a multi million pound budget gap

Councillors say they're losing out on around £18 million this year - as funding reforms direct money to other local authorities instead.

With an expected £56million deficit, councillors approved a combined Council Tax and Adult Social Care Precept increase of 4.99 per cent and new savings of just under £3.1 million. This brings the council’s savings total to nearly £160million since 2010.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Keith Glazier said: “Asking residents to pay more is not something we do lightly but we have little choice as the Government’s fairer funding reforms have left us worse off to the tune of around £18million."

“Having used our reserves to support the budget in previous years, we are unable to rely on that money and must now wait to hear if the Government will allow us to borrow an additional £70million to ensure we can carry out our statutory duties.”

The final document will be published in March.

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