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Council Tax

The police authority told us that to put in place a balanced budget, it needed £5.3 million more than our proposed cap would have allowed, which included the cost of rebilling. We have gone further than that and allowed an increase of £5.7 million. It has confirmed in a press release that there will be no redundancies as a result of the decision, and it must now take the tough decisions that every police authority and local authority has to take. It must decide how to make the efficiencies that are needed and improve services at the same time within a tough budget and tough financial circumstances. I am confident that it will be able to do that.