Council tax rise on the cards in Stafford – but car parking and garden waste charges to be frozen
Stafford Borough residents are set to see the tax they pay for services such as bin collections and maintenance of public open spaces go up by around 10p a week from April.
A 2.99% increase in council tax is being considered by Stafford Borough Council for 2026/27 – which would mean households living in Band D properties would see their annual bill rise from £178.75 to £184.09.
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Councillor Ralph Cooke, the borough authority’s cabinet member for resources, said the 2.99% increase was the maximum rise that could be imposed without triggering a referendum on proposals. He added at Thursday’s cabinet meeting (January 22) that while the authority collects all council tax and precepts in the borough, it retains only around 10% of the total monies, with the rest going to the county council, police and fire services and parish and town councils.
Cabinet members were also told that car parking and garden waste collection charges were set to be frozen in 2026/2027 however. Councillor Cooke said: “We’re doing (it) to try and help town regeneration, to try and encourage more people to come into the town to do their shopping, enjoy their leisure and the night economy.”
A report to the cabinet said that the council was expected to end the current financial year at the end of March with a £1.6m surplus in its budget. Councillor Cooke said on Thursday: “The council purchased the Civic Centre in 2025/26, and as a result the base budget has been reduced by £776,000 to reflect rent which no longer needs to be paid – that’s three quarters of a million pounds every year our budget is being reduced by.
“The council has capital resources of £1.495m in general funds and £3.136m of Section 106 resources (funds contributed by developers towards improving community facilities as part of planning permission agreements) not allocated at present. Last year the amount of money in Section 106 resources was £4.341m, so we have reduced that by over £1m.”
Provisional budgets have been prepared for the next three years, leading up to 2028/29. But the authority is set to be abolished by the end of this period as part of national reorganisation of the local government system.
The current county, district and borough councils in Staffordshire are set to be replaced by unitary authorities in 2028. Council staff will be working on the local government reorganisation process alongside the authority’s day to day work for residents, cabinet members were told, and this process is expected to pose challenges.
Councillor Cooke said: “The most serious of the risks and challenges are recruitment. These shortages of staff are very likely to have a negative impact on service delivery and we have to be very careful how we manage this.
“This is likely to be an issue until local government reorganisation is resolved. There’s also the serious matter of additional work (it) is going to generate on our staff; however provision has been made for this in the budget.
“There is a degree of uncertainly, but thanks to the prudence and competence of our knowledgeable and experienced Section 151 Officer and his equally talented and hardworking team, the council is well-placed to weather any storms gathering.”
