£5 Council Tax Hike for Devon Firefighters

Tax rise to plug service gap

Devon and Somerset’s fire service will still need to use £1 million of its reserves to balance its budget after it secured a maximum increase from council taxpayers.

The service receives some of its funding from council tax, and wants to increase its share by £5 per property per year, meaning a Band D property will pay £104.68 for the 2025/26 financial year.

The fire authority, comprised of councillors from Devon and Somerset, agreed to the hike at its budget meeting this week (Monday 17 February).

Andrew Furbear, head of finance for the service, said the increase in funding it gets from central government is “quite disappointing”.

Increases are linked to inflation, known as the consumer prices index. The reading in September is used to set the following year’s funding increases, and September’s was the lowest monthly figure in 2024.

It has total reserves of £26 million but has earmarked £21.5 million of those to spend for coming years.

“The £1 million is part of our earmarked reserves, as we set that aside several years ago to support us in future,” he said.

“We are still mindful of the fact that we need to make some changes to the operating model that we have, but I’m confident we can do that and will achieve a balanced budget in future.”

The meeting heard that various grants it gets have been removed, creating pressure to find other ways to balance the budget.

The fire service received nearly £600,000 from a rural services delivery grant, something the government is cutting entirely.

This change has cost Devon around £14 million, with Devon County Council being the biggest casualty as it used to get £10 million from that grant.

Another blow is the removal of a funding guarantee grant, that ensured its funding increased by four per cent. This year this was £1.7 million, but it will receive nothing in the financial year beginning in April.

Cll Jeff Trail (Conservative, Exmouth) said the fire authority had worked hard to ensure the best service possible, but it had been trying to do so “year-on-year when we have had reductions in funding”.

“And here we go again,” he said.

“I would like not to have to put the extra £5 on a council tax bill as yet again we are going back to the taxpayer who is footing the bill,” he said.

“Residents are paying when it should be funded through the government, but if we don’t ask the residents for the extra money, then we are going to suffer even more greatly and have to cut our cloth accordingly by cutting back services, reducing fire stations, reducing firefighters, and increasing risk.”

The fire authority voted to approve the increase to council tax bills by £5, with 13 members voting for it and four members abstaining.