COUNCIL tax payers across Waverley look likely to be spared a 10 per cent increase after successful government lobbying by the council.
The government was set to cut its annual grant to Waverley by 0.8 per cent. Waverley had been expecting an increase in government support of three per cent, so news of the cut, the result of an accounting mistake by government civil servants, meant the council would be left with a £195,000 settlement shortfall.
Councillors were facing the tough decision of whether to claw back the money in a 10 per cent council tax increase or from a smaller increase coupled with cuts to services. The council is already committed to budget cuts of £556,000 irrespective of the funding blow.
Waverley vowed to lobby the government hard for a fairer deal, demanding at least a 2.3 per cent increase in line with the council's measure of inflation. That lobbying looks to have paid off.
After meetings this week with local government minister Nick Raynsford, a key civil servant and shadow local government secretary Theresa May, Waverley leader David Harmer told The Herald: "It looks like we have a satisfactory resolution. We don't know for sure because they're not going to publish the figures until late January or early February, but we're assuming we're going to get it."
But if confirmed, that 2.3 per cent increase is still short of the anticipated three per cent, leaving the council £70,000 short of government cash.