THE leader of Worcester City Council has labelled calls to increase council tax as nonsense and says he will not go cap-in-hand to the public to help ease the financial woes.

Councillor Simon Geraghty said he would resist any attempts to get proposals for a freeze next year overturned.

He said hard-pressed households already struggling would not welcome the city increasing its portion of the council tax bill.

As previously reported in the Worcester News, Labour politicians say a rise of two per cent would cost households an average of just £3.36 a year and bring in £100,000 of revenue.

Instead, the city council’s Conservative leadership wants to freeze it for the third year running in April, and accept a windfall Government reward of £50,000 for doing so.

Coun Geraghty said: “I think in times such as this the public expect us to tighten our belts, rather than go to them asking for more of their money.

"Any arguments that if we avoid a freeze, we can save services and jobs is nonsense.

“If we were to put it up two per cent we’d be £50,000 better off – just £50,000, so we need to quash this argument right now. As a council we should be looking to ease the burden on hard-pressed households.”

Although the Labour group has not decided what rise to lobby for when it comes to a vote on the budget in February, it has called upon the Conservatives to “properly explore” all the options.

The city council only takes in 11 per cent of the overall household bill, with the rest going to County Hall, fire and police services, and in some areas, parish councils.

Coun Richard Boorn, the party’s finance spokesman, says he is worried about the continuing freezes eroding the council tax base, which means the council loses out year-on-year.

He said: “To me, his argument is an erroneous one – it ignores the implications for the future. We’re looking at this from a future perspective. We are building up a problem for the future.”

The city council is looking to cut £690,000 from spending next year.