Council proposes 5% tax rise to help balance books
Maximum council tax and rent rises may be in the pipeline, warns Dudley's local authority, as councillors prepare to debate the budget.
Patrick Harley, the council's leader, said last month that "unpopular measures" would save his authority from the risk of effective bankruptcy.
Dudley Council's proposed financial plan for 2025-26 has now been published as part of a five-year strategy that includes measures to save £42m.
The strategy will go through a series of scrutiny meetings starting on 20 January, and it is then due to be finalised at a full council meeting on 24 February.
The proposals include increases in council tax, rents and fees, plus reductions in staffing and selling off council-owned assets as part of the medium-term strategy.
"We have not taken a lot of these decisions lightly," Mr Harley said.
"We are doing it so that we put the council's finances on an even keel for the first time in the 20 years I have been on the council."
'Unsustainable'
Dudley's council tax payers could be asked to pay 5% extra, the maximum allowed without a referendum.
Council tenants would also pay more if the budget is approved, with a 2.7% increase that was also the maximum allowed by law. This would push the weekly bill up by an average of £2.60 to £99.08.
The local authority said its rents would still be some of the most affordable in the borough.
Brendan Arnold, Dudley's interim finance director, said the council had used money from its reserves to cover shortfalls in previous years, and this was "unsustainable".
He added council-run leisure centres would be secure for the next five years. Libraries and town halls were also not in the budget's firing line.
This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.
Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.