A proposed increase in council tax will be discussed at a full council meeting later this month.

Hertsmere Borough Council is looking to increase its share of council tax bills by 1.95 per cent – around 6p per household from April.

Hertfordshire County Council will announce decisions around their portion of the council tax bill separately.

Leader of the council, Morris Bright, said: “Despite significant financial pressures in recent years we’ve managed to keep our portion of council tax bills frozen for six years.

“At the same time, by keeping costs under control, we’ve maintained the key frontline services that we deliver to Hertsmere’s residents.

“However with continued austerity measures and reductions in government funding, we need to consider a small increase for this coming year.

"We have had a frozen tax for the past six years and it will be a £3 increase per the whole year.

"If you take inflation into consideration, the tax increase would be up to £184 rather than £162. We now feel it is a reasonable time to increase it.

"We protected the services that everyone wanted to protect and we will continue to do so."

Hertsmere Borough Council currently gets around 11 per cent of the council tax each year with Hertfordshire County Council taking 77 per cent.

Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner gets 10 per cent and any parish or town council including Borehamwood receive two per cent.

A homeowner in an average Band D property will pay just over £157 in council tax to the borough council for the year 2016/2017.

That money is used to fund services including waste and recycling, planning, housing, parks and open spaces, street cleaning and environmental health.

Cllr John Graham, portfolio holder for finance, said: “We have been in discussion about our budget for many months now and planning ahead for the future.

“We have balanced the budget this year but at a time of reducing support from central government we need to find new sources of income if we are to continue to protect services valued by our residents.”

The detailed budget will be considered in full by Executive at its meeting on February 10 and approved by Full Council on February 24.

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