Council tax in Halton to rise to save police jobs

Feb 22 2012 by Daniel Mckenzie, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

COUNCIL tax payers in Halton face a hike this year to cover multi-million pound cuts to the policing budget.

The tax bill for a Band D home in Runcorn and Widnes will increase by £5.69 a year – or 11p a week – as Cheshire Police Authority looks to make £33m in savings by 2015.

The rise means 23 extra police officers will keep their jobs, with redundancies limited to 25 instead of the 48 which would have been required if council tax rates remained the same.

Margaret Ollerenshaw, chairman of Cheshire Police Authority, said: “We are aware of the financial strains many people are facing at the moment.

“We looked carefully at the idea of freezing council tax at last year’s level.

“After careful consideration, we decided this small increase would help maintain front line policing services and keep the people of Cheshire safe.”

Last year the authority had to reduce its budget by £12m.

During 2012/13 another £13.1m in savings needs to be made.

The annual charge for a Band D Home will be £150.22, compared to £144.53 in 2011/12.

The amount will be added to the proposed council tax figure already agreed by Halton Council’s executive board two weeks ago of £1,137.91 for a Band D property, the same as last year.

Mrs Ollerenshaw added: “It is depressing to see the level of cuts we are having to make following the steady investment we have made over the life of the authority to ensure the constabulary has the capability and capacity to make Cheshire safer and to protect the public from harm.

“So far the performance of the constabulary has remained stable and we have not yet seen any increase in crime, or the deterioration in satisfaction levels which we feared.”

In the next 12 months police officer numbers are expected to reduce from 1998 to 1973.

The number of police community support officers is expected to rise from 215 to 222, while other police staff posts are expected to reduce from 1637 to 1510.