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 |
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