00:00most council taxpayers in northeast england will face higher bills from april despite government
00:09changes aimed at benefiting the region councils are permitted to raise taxes by up to 4.99 percent
00:17without a referendum but many authorities including gateshead northumberland and newcastle
00:22are planning to impose this maximum increase gateshead's leader martin gannon says the extra
00:28funds which would total around 1 million pounds won't significantly ease the burden with a 350
00:35million pound budget to balance meanwhile durham's leader andrew husband described the government's
00:42funding increase as a drop in the ocean especially considering rising costs like national insurance
00:48and the demand for social care services the government claims the funding changes will raise
00:54council's spending power by 4.2 billion pound over three years but this is contingent on councils
01:01raising council tax every year some councils like middlesbrough have seen improvements with a freeze
01:07in council tax and new spending on services like youth clubs and street cleaning but many argue that
01:13these measures are still not enough to address the long-standing funding shortfall the government has
01:19pledged to reform the funding system to address regional divides but local leaders continue to call for
01:25for more substantial support
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