SOUTH Hams District Council has set its budget for the next financial year and have raised their council tax by 3.3 per cent.

At a full council meeting, councillors voted to increase their portion of Council Tax by the maximum amount allowed in any one year. This equates to £5 for a band D property. For the next financial year that is a 3.3 per cent increase to £155.42.

With a commitment to protect frontline services where possible, even in the wake of cuts in Government grants, councillors have reluctantly agreed to increase their portion of Council Tax.

This is a pattern which is being echoed by many of the other providers that Council Tax funds.

Of the money that South Hams District Council collects in Council Tax, only nine per cent goes to services provided by South Hams, the rest goes to Devon County Council, the local Town or Parish Councils, and the Fire and Police services.

At the same time they agreed a Capital Programme, which included a Community Reinvestment Fund to support communities where significant housing development has taken place; funding for Disabled Facilities Grants to support people living independently in their own homes and additional investment in play equipment for parks across the District.

A spokesperson for South Hams District Council said: ‘We know that our main funding grant will disappear completely by 2018 and we are exploring many different options for how we can generate our own income and continue to fund services.

‘The Council has already identified savings of just under £880,000 for 2017/18 on its net budget of £8.3million.

‘In the meantime, increasing Council Tax, while never popular, is one way that we can continue to deliver important service that our communities need.

‘This has been a challenging year but we have met it with some very robust forward planning that has allowed us to ease the pressures on frontline services and will enable us to deliver a strong Capital Programme this year that will benefit the people in our communities.’

Currently, councils receive their funding from three main sources: Central Government Grants, Council Tax and Business Rates.

Before Christmas, the council received confirmation from Central Government that it has been accepted for a four year financial settlement up until 2020.

It also confirmed that South Hams District Council’s funding from the Central Government Grant and Business Rates will be reducing by a further 39 per cent between now and 2019/20. The Council will then be facing a budget gap over the next two years of £0.6 million.