People will have to pay more for their fire and rescue service ... around an extra £1 a year.
Councillors have agreed a small increase in the rate precept which will rise by 1.99% and that equates to around 2p extra per week for the average council taxpayer.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority will see a further loss of £3.29m of grant in 2017/18 as part of its four-year Government settlement which will see an overall grand reduction of £7.9m by 2019/20. In order to balance the budget, the Authority has identified savings of £1.2m and will use £0.95m of reserves.
The new budget will enable the Authority to start the recruitment of wholetime firefighters in 2017/18 for the first time in nine years.
Authority chair Clr Judith Hughes said: “This small increase in precept has allowed the authority to balance the budget in the current year and provided additional financial stability for future years. Despite this increase, the authority remains one of the lowest cost per head of population fire authorities in the country.”
Chief Fire Officer John Roberts added: “We have seen significant reductions in firefighter numbers. However, the job is not complete and further savings are needed over the next three years. The reintroduction of recruitment is a positive step forward, but I fully recognise that there are many challenges ahead.”
