Chichester Residents Set For Council Tax Hike

Chichester District Council plans to raise its portion of the 2026/27 council tax bill by 2.99 per cent.

The increase will take a Band D bill from £192.06 to £197.80.

On top of this, residents face a £15 increase from Sussex Police and a proposed £89.82 increase from the county council.

The council has balanced its budget for 2026/27 without having to draw on reserves, and shows a £145,000 surplus, which will be transferred to reserves.

Council tax income will account for £11.86m of the revenue budget – which covers the day-to-day costs of running the council, while the capital programme, which covers one-off costs, stands at £34.16m.

Just over £4.2m of the revenue budget will come from the government.

Mark Chilton, cabinet member for finance, said the budget was ‘as robust as it could possibly be in the current circumstances’.

And council leader Adrian Moss added:

“I believe this budget is about investing in the future for our community and I’m really proud of what everyone across all departments have done to bring a really robust budget that is carefully constructed and carefully managed.”

Referring to the cancellation of some local elections, including those for West Sussex County Council, Harsha Desai asked if residents still had the ‘democratic obligation’ to pay their council tax bills ‘when democracy itself has been witheld’.

Mr Chilton said they couldn’t make judgements about what other councils chose to do, adding:

“Whether it is right to cancel elections – it is clearly undemocratic – it doesn’t really give their electors the right not to pay their council tax.

“Their chance to object is the next opportunity they get to vote.

"And I think they will do that.”

The budget will be put to a meeting of the full council on March 3.