Stockton Borough Council Tax is among the highest in the country and residents, politicians and even councillors deem it unfair. Band D properties in the North East will pay an average increase of \u00a3116.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just months into owning his first home, Jody Leonard, 28, said he and his partner both work overtime but are already struggling with the council tax rise on top of the cost-of-living crisis, mortgage, and utility costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jody said, \u201cPeople in the North seem to be penalised for almost being poor, why should we have to pay more when, if we\u2019re being honest, the quality of life up here is probably a lot worse than it is down South.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added, \u201cWe\u2019re paying more and getting less, it doesn\u2019t seem to make sense, so I do think there\u2019s a need for reform.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillor Tony Riordan, Conservative Group Leader for Stockton, said: \u201cStockton is not a wealthy area but has a proud heritage of people wanting to work hard and make for themselves and their families, a comfortable, but not well off, lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The annual and maximum council tax rise hurts their pockets. Since 2016, the council tax demand has risen by 50%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MP for Stockton West, Matt Vickers, launched a petition against the council tax hike, calling it \u201ca bombshell,\u201d and criticising the Labour-led council\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said, \u201cWith some councils being allowed raise the tax higher than 5% with no referendum, it sets a worrying precedent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councils nationwide are all dealing with extreme financial pressures \u2013 driven by inflation and rising social care costs \u2013 that the Local Government Association has labelled \u201cextremely challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, Stockton Council said its transformation programme \u2018Powering Our Future\u2019 has helped to cut long-term costs and reduce borrowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Councillor Lisa Evans, Deputy Leader of Stockton-On-Tees Borough Council, said: \u201cWe’re making excellent progress, already delivering over half the savings we need to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added: \u201cWe know that demand in particular for children’s and adult services will continue to rise. This means we can’t be complacent, and we must keep going with our transformation programme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some believe that better budgeting and investment would have prevented the hike. Councillor Tony Riordan said, \u201cIt also goes toward servicing the ever-increasing borrowing costs that the present controlling group have incurred through disastrous planning and playing foot loose with follies, such as The Globe Theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stockton Council spent over \u00a330 million to renovate the Globe Theatre \u2014 yet the building is owned by the private company Jomast. Councillor Riordan questioned why public money is funding a venue that does not belong to the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The council passed the decision by a narrow 28\u201324 vote, revealing divisions within the council and residents \u2013 with people like Jody wanting further action from the Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Image credit: Flickr, Stockton Council)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A councillor has criticised Stockton Council for \u201cplaying footloose with follies\u201d after they raised council tax by 4.95% on April 1, leaving many residents feeling the strain. Stockton Borough Council Tax is among the highest in the country and residents, politicians and even councillors deem it unfair. Band D properties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":285,"featured_media":360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/285"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/emma-stephenson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}