A CRIME commissioner is asking residents if they would pay 1.99 per cent more for their police force.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird is considering a 1.99 per cent rise in the police precept for 2015-16 – the highest allowed without a costly local referendum.
The move would generate an extra £630,000 for the force.
A 1.99 per cent increase would mean a rise of 2p per week for Band A householders, taking the weekly charge to £1.13.
The other options are a 1.5 per cent rise and freezing the precept, which would mean the force getting a government grant of £389,000.
Ms Baird, the former Redcar MP, is consulting and wants to hear residents’ views.
“Our force has suffered tremendously from Government cuts to grants with £45.8m lost in the past four years and a further £11.8m lost this year.
“The financial challenge the force faces now is its worst, though the Chief Constable and I are doing our very best to preserve the high standards of policing that we are sued to here,” she said.
Consultation takes place online at surveymonkey.com/r/policeprecept until Saturday, January 31, and a final decision will be taken during February.
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