Proposed council tax hike will 'balance the books'

The proposed council tax increase in Lincolnshire will be the lowest for years, senior officials have said.

Lincolnshire County Council's executive has recommended a 2.9% council tax increase for 2026-27, which it said equated to about 90p a week for the average Band D property.

Council leader Sean Matthews said: "None of the executive want to put council tax up at all, but we can assure residents that the small increase they will pay is only what is absolutely necessary to balance the books."

Officials said the increase would predominantly be used to meet increased costs and demand for social care for older people in the county.

Matthews said: "We've listened to residents through our consultation and they want to see us balance the budget, but they're also genuinely struggling with the cost of living now.

"Our final proposal addresses both of these. Residents wanted to see change in the council, and with the lowest council tax increase for five years - at less than the rate of inflation - we're doing our very best to do that."

Matthews previously said the party, which took control of the county council following local elections in May 2025, stood on a manifesto to cut waste, reduce costs and have a sensible approach to governing.

In an update on Tuesday, he said: "This is our first budget as a new administration and we're faced with costs that have gone up by more than £80m and hundreds of millions of pounds of historic debt.

"The government has provided some additional funding this year to reflect that the county has been underfunded in the past, but it won't be anywhere near enough to cover this."

Matthews said the authority was "meeting that challenge by rooting out wasteful spending, doing things differently and funding future projects without having to borrow money".

In addition to an extra £36m of government funding, the budget proposals include £15m of efficiency savings, £1m of savings from senior management and using a small proportion of the council's reserves, the authority said.

The council tax proposals will be put to full council for a decision on 20 February.

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