The responses to the Council’s budget consultation showed that it is vital that a balance is struck between keeping costs low for working people and providing services locally which really matter.
It is for this reason that we opted for a 1.9% increase in council tax last year (following no increase in Council Tax for two years) -as the fair and practical solution to balancing increasingly difficult commitments with the necessity to provide for the people of Herefordshire.
What is also fair is that those who have the broadest shoulders pay their fair share of the burden which is why we will remove the discounts people receive on the council tax bills when their properties are empty.
Where properties are empty for two years or more we will charge a premium as well as ensuring long-term empty properties will be charged at 150% of the standard council tax rate.