Sunday 31 August 2025
 14.8°C   SE Strong Breeze
Ocean Kinetics - The Engineering Experts

News / Council tax rise confirmed

COUNCILLORS in Shetland agreed on Wednesday to increase council tax by three per cent, adding just over £31 to the rate for a Band D property to £1,084.59.

Councillors also agreed to raise a whole raft of charges, including council house rents, by an average of two per cent.

The increases had been expected for some time after Shetland Islands Council received one of the poorest Scottish government funding settlements in recent years.

With the changes having been through the local authority’s various committees in recent weeks, councillors gave their final approval for a £110.1 million budget for 2017/18 at a meeting of the Full Council in Shetland Museum and Archives on Wednesday.

To balance the books, the SIC will have to dip into its reserves to a tune of just over £21.2 million.

During Monday’s policy and resources committee meeting, council leader Gary Robinson said he was frustrated by the SNP government’s reluctance to use new revenue-raising powers such as income tax to ease the burden on local government.

He felt councils had been bounced into raising council tax by three per cent – a move which will only raise £258,000 in the islands.

Band 2016/17 2017/18 Increase
A £702.00 £723.06 £21.06
B £819.00 £843.57 £24.57
C £936.00 £964.08 £28.08
D £1,053.00 £1,084.59 £31.59
E £1,287.00 £1,425.03 £138.03
F £1,521.00 £1,762.46 £241.46
G £1,755.00 £2,123.99 £368.99
H £2,106.00 £2,657.25 £551.25

Become a member of Shetland News

Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:

  • Removal of third-party ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.

If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.

 
Categories

Sign up
for our Newsletters

Stay in the loop with newsletters tailored to your interests. Whether you're looking for daily updates, weekly highlights, or updates on jobs or property, you can choose exactly what you want to receive.

Advertisement 
Advertisement 
Advertisement 

JavaScript Required

We're sorry, but Shetland News isn't fully functional without JavaScript enabled.
Head over to the help page for instructions on how to enable JavaScript on your browser.

Interested in Notifications?

Get notifications from Shetland News for important and breaking news.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Have you considered becoming a member of Shetland News?

  • Removal of third-party ads;
  • Bookmark posts to read later;
  • Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
  • Hide membership messages;
  • Comments open for discussion.