Mid Suffolk’s 2013/14 budget was approved last month with the Council freezing council tax and accepting a Government council tax freeze grant of £54,000. Without an increase in council tax this year, and with all the Government funding changes in hand, the taxbase will be reduced for future years and make balancing the budget more difficult in following years. An additional one-off “rural efficiency” grant of approximately £41,000 was offered by Government to compensate for the disadvantages rural councils face.
At the same time the Council approved rent increases of around 4%. Many councillors, including me, were unhappy with this proposal but were advised it was necessary in order to meet the Council’s housing debt financing requirements.
Rachel Eburne 
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