Walsall councillor warns residents to ‘brace themselves’ after budget decision
A Walsall councillor has warned residents to ‘brace themselves’ for millions of cuts to services and further council tax increases going forwards.
Councillor Pete Smith, ward member for Blakenall, said a single occupant of a house worth £2.5 million in London ‘may well be’ paying less council tax than a couple with a child in a one-bedroom flat in Walsall.
The comments come as councillors were asked to rubber-stamp a 4.99 per cent increase in council tax for 2026/27 on February 26.
The budget, set out by the ruling Conservative group, was presented to full council for approval.
Nearly a quarter of all councillors were absent for the item.
Six amendments were put forward as members debated proposals to housing, fly tipping vehicles and changes to bereavement services.
But, in an unprecedented move, they were not allowed to debate the budget as a whole before taking the final vote.
Councillor Smith, who was the only councillor to vote against the 2026/27 budget, said it was a ‘disgrace’ that members couldn’t debate the ‘most important’ item.
He said: “For the first time that I can ever remember, members were not allowed to debate the budget proposals.
“It was put to the vote as soon as relatively minor amendments had been dealt with. I challenged this on a point of order but, probably given the late hour, the mayor went along with the vote being taken before a proper debate on the actual budget.
“This meant that there was no proper debate on the budget proposals as a whole – a total disgrace in my view. It’s the first time it’s ever happened since 1983, it’s never been known.”
The independent councillor said some aspects of the debate ‘might have embarrassed’ the leaders.
Councillor Smith was going to raise the issue of council tax arrears after data was revealed on the matter last week.
The ward-by-ward breakdown of figures shows nearly £30m has built up in arrears since March 2020.
The five worst offending wards are those deemed most socioeconomic deprived – St Matthew’s, Birchills-Leamore, Blakenall, Willenhall South and Pleck.
The wards with the least amount of arrears over the same period were Streetly, Pheasey Park Farm, Pelsall, Aldridge Central and South, and Aldridge North and Walsall Wood.
Councillor Smith said: “It doesn’t take an Einstein to look down the list and see a close correlation between the size of the arrears compared to the relative socioeconomic profile of the ward.
“I do not think that a further council tax rise, which is double the present rate of inflation, will do anything to help recoup past arrears let alone help them pay the new council tax on top.
“It also begs the question, is all this fair on those who are paying and have paid their council tax on time?
“We cannot keep maximizing council tax and cutting millions and millions off the budget. Our streets are filthy, God knows what they’d be like if it wasn’t for the volunteer litter pickers.
“This broken link between tax and service quality has led to both a growing dissatisfaction among residents and a danger to the democratic process in this country.
“If I had voted for such a hit on my residents, they would never have forgiven me.
“I would warn people to brace themselves for another £50 million worth of cuts, another 4.99 per cent council tax rise and further increases in charges.”
Leader at the authority, Councillor Mike Bird, said: “The reality is that a broken national funding system forces councils in poorer areas to charge higher council tax for fewer resources, leaving residents paying more not because of local failure, but because the settlement and tax system are fundamentally unfair.
“The council does it utmost to maintain a good standard of service delivery.
“It is also widely recognised that the public health allocation approach is now more than a decade out of date, with our local analysis showing that Walsall not only has the lowest allocation per head of population in the Black Country, but the lowest allocation in our deprivation decile, with significant funding differences between authorities across the country with similar deprivation levels and this adds to the problem of needing to rely on council tax increases to balance the budget.”
