Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner says public vote on whether to increase council tax is ‘not good use of resources’
Lincolnshire’s police commissioner says he won’t hold a vote on whether the force’s share of the council tax could be increased above the limit to deal with unprecedented financial problems.
Marc Jones (Con) had asked the government earlier this month whether they would give Lincolnshire permission to do this without a public vote.
However, ministers have refused this, and Mr Jones says a vote “would not be a good use of resources”.
Police forces are limited to a council tax rise of £14 per year for Band D households without holding a referendum.
Under the current proposal, households will likely be asked to pay 4.59 per cent extra – equivalent to £13.95 or 27p per week for those in Band D.
It comes as the force is battling £14m budget problems for the next year, which led it to cancel its new intake of officers.
Lincolnshire Police is facing a shortfall of £14m for the 2025/26, which will be met through cuts and use of savings.
The proposed council tax increase will be discussed by the Police and Crime Panel next week (February 7), and the committee can decide whether to accept it or not.
In a report for the meeting, the commissioner wrote: “Informed by the views of local people and the consequences for policing in Lincolnshire of the medium term financial outlook, I wrote to the Policing Minister on January 14 seeking her support for a proposed increase in the referendum threshold for Lincolnshire.
“Given the overwhelming support of the people of Lincolnshire for increased funding for their Police Force to maintain policing services as much as possible, I would be prepared to raise the Council Tax by more than £14.
“However, I would not be prepared to undertake a costly local referendum. It would not be a good use of resources and would lead to uncertainty at a time when decisive action is required.”
The report adds: “The Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable are in ongoing dialogue with the Home Office to seek to secure additional funding for Lincolnshire.”
The council tax increase would be equivalent to an additional £9.30 per for those lowing in the lowest-value Band A homes, for a total of £212.
Band B would be asked to pay £10.85 more, adding up to £247.
Band C would have a £12.40 increase, paying £282 across the year.
New recruits who were expecting to start in March unexpectedly had their job offers cancelled this week amid efforts to save money.
Police officer numbers will need to be reduced by around 200 to 1000 by 2028/29.