A MAXIMUM 4.99 per cent in council tax is expected to be agreed as part of a plan to cut £46.6m from Darlington Borough Council's budget by 2021.

Cabinet members called a special meeting this evening to discuss a sustained tax hike for 2017/18 and 2018/19.

A Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) report prepared by the authority revealed 1.99 per cent of the rise would go to the council with a further three per cent levy subsidising adult social care.

However, council leader, Bill Dixon, defended the decision, which is expected to be approved in an upcoming council meeting - claiming the increase is there to protect the town’s most disadvantaged.

During Tuesday night's meeting, Councillor Dixon, said: “We are where we are. We’ve got a budget that we’ve got to make work.

“Too many people rely on this local government for services that are life and death – not just services that are nice to have.

“For as long as I’m leader and this group is in charge, we will continue to raise council tax to protect our most vulnerable people.”

He added: “I must admit, I do accept the comments that are made by the public that having paid national insurance and income tax, I don’t really see why Government is deferring part of the responsibility to local governments in the most unfair way.

“This problem is a national issue and it will not be solved by taxing the poor to subsidise the poorer – that’s a road to the mad house.”

Conservative group leader Councillor Heather Scott agreed that adult social care services provided by the authority should be protected.

She said: “I agree that social care needs extra attendance and that’s something the Government is looking at.

“I’m pleased to hear we’re going to look at [the MTFP] again to see how these savings are going to be achieved.”

During the meeting, several members made political statements about central and local governments in a bid to establish why Darlington Borough Council are faced with a £46.6m expenditure cut.

Chris McEwan, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for economy and regeneration, added: “This Government talks about rebalancing the economy and we’re trying to do that.

“The Government is failing to recognise the need to invest in all parts of the country. I appreciate every penny we get, but we need more and we could do so much more

“We can talk about political statements because this is all down to politics.”