Walkden residents are set to see their council tax bills rise - as cuts are made.

Salford council is set to vote through a 4.99 per cent hike in council tax and bosses brace to make £6m in cuts in a bid to balance the books. 

The council meets on Wednesday (February 22) to approve a revenue budget of £244.692m for 2023/34.

Council tax will go up across all bands, with bills for the middle-ranked D band rising to an annual bill of £2,213.

That figure includes the general precept raised by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham on residents, for police and fire services across the region, charges for which have risen by 6.04pc.

A detailed report to the council contains a range of recommendations from mayor Paul Dennett.

It says the city’s general reserves, used for emergencies, will remain at £13.3m. An additional £88.883m will be spent on capital projects.

In a bleak future forecast, the authority’s ‘medium-term financial strategy’ predicts budget gaps of £12.4m and £23.9m for 2024/25 and 2025/26, respectively.

Meanwhile, the council is expected to rake in £101m in business rates during the coming year.

Town hall bosses, however, are putting a brave face on, saying their budget ‘protects the services that are at the very heart of what the council does’.

These include maintenance of parks and public realm, roads, streetlights and support for vulnerable children and adults, they say.

At the same time, the council has pledged to ‘continue the council’s commitment to sustainable growth, vital in bringing new jobs and opportunities’.

The council says it has also focused the budget on doubling investment to improve local roads and revive Eccles town centre, despite the city’s Levelling Up Funding from the Government being rebuffed.

Mr Dennett said the budget sets aside £3.1m in hardship funding for those most in need to protect the city’s hardest hit from the worst effects of the cost of living crisis.

He said: “We will continue to prioritise support for those who are struggling financially, at risk of homelessness, as well as those many residents who tragically are choosing between heating and eating. 

“This budget also makes a provision for our most vulnerable from the worst effects of the cost of living crisis. 

“The main driver of this budget is to continue providing financial support to those struggling, and continue to enable us to invest in social care with a commitment to deliver the Real Living Wage and a decent pay award in 2023/24 to all those providing vital support to older and vulnerable people, whilst recognising the value of our foster carers who support our young people by increasing allowances. 

“The housing crisis remains at the forefront of our priorities and we will continue to work towards providing homes to address the continued housing crisis.”

Along with the lives of local residents and the forecasts of local businesses, the council’s operations have also been affected by the cost of living crisis, presenting challenges of rising costs, he said. 

Mr Dennett continued: “This is my seventh budget and as ever there have been tough choices. 

“This year, the Government has also assumed that council tax will increase by 2.99pc and the Adult Social Care precept by 2pc for us to meet our spending requirements. 

“This will be a blow to many residents – but ultimately the council must face a choice between accepting Government’s suggested increase, or taking funding from our services on which our residents rely.”

As reported previously by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Mr Dennett has said that, in real terms, changes to the way local government is funded have equated to a £232m reduction in the city’s revenue budget as a consequence of cuts to funding, resulting in a reduction of 53pc in central government core funding support since 2010.

Salford’s lead member for finance and support services Coun Jack Youd said: “There continues to be a real terms reduction in funding to Salford City Council this financial year. 

“The catastrophic failures of the short-lived Liz Truss government combined with failures to tackle inflation and low pay is leading to the worst cost of living crisis in a generation.

 “This makes how we as a city respond to these budget challenges all the more important. 

“This year, our budget gap was £6 million, fuelled by rising costs. This is money again found in cuts.”

If the budget approved this is what you pay will in council tax in the year aghead (single person households get a 25pc discount):

Band A minus: £1229.73

Band A: £1,475.68

Band B: £1,721.63

Band C: £1,967.57

Band D: £2,213.53

Band E: £2,705.41

Band F: £3,197.31

Band G: £3,689.21

Band H: £4,427.06