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* * * News for 2^nd March 2006 * * *

All of Medway: 2^nd March 2006

At the special Budget Meeting of the Council this evening (Thursday 2^nd March 2006), a Council Tax rise of 5·5% was Voted for by the Conservative Group unanimously, voted against by the Labour Group (although they had nothing to offer themselves, not even the usual amendments this year!) and the Liberal Democrats didn't vote at all. The coming year's budget was against a backdrop of the usual government underfunding plus yet more unfunded additional costs imposed on local authorities by that same government, some of which have been outlined on this website in the past.

The resultant Band D Council Tax will be £949·23 plus precepts—an increased payment from the current year of just under a pound per week. This remains the lowest overall Council Tax of just about any unitary authority in the country, and the lowest of any local authority in Kent (district plus county) by a fair margin.

Here are the actual amounts for each Charging Band for 2006–2007, without any precepts:

Band A :	£	632·82	—	Band B :	£	738·29
Band C :	£	843·76	—	Band D :	£	949·23
Band E :	£	1,160·17	—	Band F :	£	1,371·11
Band G :	£	1,582·05	—	Band H :	£	1,898·46

And here are the amounts including Police and Fire precepts (which apply to all households) but excluding any Parish precept (as these apply only to particular areas), which come out as nice round figures this year:

Band A :	£	750·00	—	Band B :	£	875·00
Band C :	£	1,000·00	—	Band D :	£	1,125·00
Band E :	£	1,375·00	—	Band F :	£	1,625·00
Band G :	£	1,875·00	—	Band H :	£	2,250·00

There is a year-by-year table of Council Tax levels set by all Unitary Authirities nationwide in recent years on this website here.