Staffordshire council tax hike to pay for police
A huge increase in council tax to pay for more than 60 new police officers in Staffordshire is being planned, it has been revealed.
Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis has proposed a 6.29 per cent rise in the force’s portion of the bill from April declaring the extra funding will help combat the heightened terror threat, increase officer visibility as well as reduce repeat offending and road collisions.
It will mean the police precept will increase by £11.40 for 2018/19 – to £192.56 for residents in a Band D property.
The force’s net budget is set to swell to £183.4 million from April – around £4.8m more than this year which would be solely generated by the tax hike.
Up to £3.3m has been earmarked to hire more officers – 44 new offices in 2018/19 and a further 25 in the following 12 months.
Another £850,000 will go towards improving the force’s investigation capability including upgrading CCTV and £800k has been allocated to bolster roads policing to reduce crime on the highways and serious road traffic collisions.
Mr Ellis stated has justified the large increase in council tax stating that he has raised the police precept only once in five years – 1.99 per cent in 2017/18 – despite ongoing cost pressures including increased investment in armed response, a dedicated team tackling online child sexual exploitation, investment in forensic equipment and increases in staff wages.
The 2018/19 funding includes £29m on armed policing.
He said: “My strong instinct has always been not to raise taxes. However,Crime is evolving and becoming more complex.
"The internet, technology and societal change have all affected the way harm can be inflicted on victims.
"It’s made the job of investigating, and the job of policing generally, more time-consuming and more costly.
“Despite that, Staffordshire Police has coped well and because money has been spent more effectively over recent years, neighbourhood policing numbers have remained broadly the same in Staffordshire since 2013.
"But that increasing demand and evolving criminality has meant the most local day-to-day reassurance policing in the heart of communities has suffered.
"My proposed increase of £11.40 a year will allow Staffordshire’s Chief Constable to invest in critical areas of policing, provides continued investment in modern technology and crucially, a much-needed boost to policing at the most local community level by increasing officer numbers.”
The proposal will go before the Staffordshire Police and Crime Panel on Monday.
