Fire authority's share of council tax to increase
Residents of Shropshire will pay more towards the county’s fire service next year after an authority meeting approved their precept proposals.
A current Band D property in Shropshire will pay £114.49 in their council tax towards the service during the 2024/25 financial year – a rise of 2.99 per cent or £3.33 per year.
Telford & Wrekin councillor Richard Overton proposed the precept increase and said it was to meet increasing costs.
He said: “The public sector is being hit hard by the increased cost of utilities. The Police and Crime Commissioner is putting their precept up to support more police officers on the streets. It’s only right to make sure that our budget is balanced, we don’t know what the future holds.
“I do support a 2.99 per cent increase as we need to make sure that public services are funded well. Government are not doing it so it comes to tax payers to put up the cost.”
The Shropshire and Wrekin Fire and Rescue Authority state that the increase, which equates to six pence a week, would cover inflationary pressures and service its capital programme.
A report to the authority’s meeting on Wednesday was presented by head of finance Joanne Coadey.
Her report said that the increase would also provide some capacity to ensure that objectives are met, and ‘strategic developments explored’.
The report added that work is currently underway by the fire authority to develop the Community Risk Management Plan (CRMP) objectives for between 2025 and 2029.
“These include data to determine where our assets are located to meet risk,” Mrs Coadey’s report said.
“Focus will also be placed on ensuring that the service is structured to meet new and emerging risks, such as climate change (flooding and wildfires) and new technologies, such as electric vehicles and battery storage sites.
“This work will require investment to meet both current and future demands, and an indicative figure of £250,000 has been included in the revenue budget from 2025/26.”
The government has paid fire authorities £174,000 as funding guarantee – this is to ensure that all fire authorities receive at least a 3% increase in core spending power before council tax or use of reserves.
Like local council authorities the fire service has only received a one-year settlement containing funding details from central government.
“The settlement was more favourable than anticipated,” Mrs Coadey’s report added.
