Proposals to hike Luton Borough Council’s tax precept for the 16th time in 18 years have been passed through.
At a meeting of the council’s executive on Monday night, members agreed on the 1.5% rise worth £857,000 for LBC.
It comes after the council rejected a £719,000 government grant to freeze council tax for the fourth year running.
In a budget report the hike was said to be preferable as “the level of additional income that can be achieved is greater than that achievable from taking the tax freeze grant.”
Due to LBC’s precept hike the overall council tax bill will go up by £22.88 a year for Band D homeowners.
Should a May referendum for police and crime commissioner Olly Martins’ 15.8% precept rise prove successful, that Band D figure would jump to £44.72 extra a year.
Since 1998-99 LBC has increased its council tax precept 16 times and has frozen it just twice – in 2004-05 and in 2011-12.