The rise, lower than last year's 3.75 per cent rise and well within Government guidelines, allows the Council to invest an extra £1.6million into Care provision within the Adults and Children's service and an additional £500,000 into street cleansing and tackling crime and antisocial behaviour.
The new rate for the Council's element of the Council Tax will mean an extra 40p a week for the majority of our properties (Band A), as the vast majority of the Borough's 62,000 properties are in Bands A-C - over 51,000.
The Council's Cabinet Member for Corporate Resources Councillor Peter Scott said:
"Every council in the country must plan for tough times ahead, but we believe we have produced a budget that ensures value for money and the protection of our frontline services.
"We are looking ahead, too, ready for the expectation of tighter Government restrictions on our public spending, and we believe our planning will ensure we are capable of sustainable financial management."
He added:
"This budget is part of a well thought out Medium Term Financial Plan that will deliver massive investment in new schools, new homes and new leisure facilities and also provide a boost to the local economy."
The budget is based around five key areas - a focus on priorities, a commitment to improve efficiency and Value For Money, the need to maximise income and protecting frontline services plus the promotion of joint working with partners.
This will allow the Council to support the community, Corus, industries on the Wilton site and other businesses across the whole Borough.
The Council has been pleased with the public's input during budget consultation, which has included a series of drop-in sessions and an innovative online budget simulator.
You outline a range of savings and investments you wanted from the Council - the budget agreed today accounts for these. We will provide fuller details in our next publication of the Council's magazine, This is Redcar & Cleveland.
Councillor Scott said:
"The consultation initially began back in October and we've been encouraged by the public's willingness to participate.
"The drop-in sessions produced three main themes - be more efficient, charge more for services and reduce what the Council delivers and does.
"We have to balance those views with what we believe is best for the whole of the Borough's population and we think we've achieved that.
"Setting the budget is never an easy process so it was fascinating to see how the public responded to the budget simulator and I'm delighted to report that over 400 people took part.
"I'm sure it gave a lot more people a far greater insight into how the money is allocated and the pressures on us to produce a balanced budget."
The 2010/2011 Council Tax levels, with the number of properties in each band and the 2009/2010 levels in brackets (without Police, Fire, Parish Precepts), are:
Band A (26,925 properties): £861.12(£840.12), Band B (12,226 properties): £1,004.64 (£980.14), Band C (13,563 properties): £1,148.16(£1,120.16), Band D (5,029 properties): £1,291.68(£1,260.18), Band E (2,926 properties): £1,578.72(£1,540.22), Band F (839 properties): £1,865.76(£1,820.26), Band G (379 properties): £2,152.80(£2,100.30), Band H (22 properties): £2,583.36(£2,520.36).
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