Blackburn with Darwen's Labour leadership was accused of 'screwing residents' as the borough's budget meeting approved a 4.99 per cent increase it its portion of the council tax.
The authority's finance boss Cllr Vicky McGurk said the government's grant settlement left it no choice but to impose the maximum rise permitted without a referendum.
It means the borough becomes the latest of some-95 per cent of all councils across the country to enforce the maximum rise, amid a decade of cuts to central funding and recent high inflation.
Blackburn with Darwen Conservative finance spokesperson Cllr Neil Slater told her the 2024/25 budget showed lack of vision and an attitude of 'we'll just screw all the residents'.
The rise of 2.99 per cent for general council services and two per cent ring fenced to pay for adult social care, approved at Thursday night's Finance Council meeting, will add £56 a year to the bill for a Band A terraced house, and £84 a year to the cost for a Band D family home from April 1, before additional levies for the police, fire service, and parish councils.
It follows the Conservative-run Lancashire County Council also increasing council tax by the maximum 4.99 per cent.
Tory-run Hyndburn, independent controlled Burnley, and Labour run Rossendale are all also hiking council tax by their maximum amount of 2.99 per cent, and Lancashire's Conservative police and crime commissioner Andrew Snowden is also hiking his police precept by 4.75 per cent.
Cllr McGurk told the meeting: "Despite suffering some of the highest funding cuts amongst councils of our type in the last 14 years of austerity, our prudent management of the council’s finances means once again we can set a balanced budget for the next year.
"According to the government’s numbers, our increase in Core Spending Power will be 7.9 per cent which, on the face of it, is very welcome.
"But, whilst any increase in funding is gratefully received after years and years of austerity, the increase does assume we will again increase the council tax by the maximum possible under the government’s referendum principles.
"Let me stress the government expects us to increase our council tax by the maximum amount.
"Whilst any additional funding is welcome, this ‘sticking plaster solution’ approach to critical local services like adult and children’s social care does nothing to help plan and provide and those activities in a sustainable way.
"Our proposed budget includes sensible but necessary budget efficiencies.
"I accept there is more work to do but our ambition to deliver prosperity for every resident of this borough remains undimmed."
Cllr Slater said: "You have done your usual Tory bashing but forgotten to mention just how great the settlement is.
"But instead of passing it on to the residents you screw them with a five per cent increase in council tax.
"You then screw them for every single charge increase.
"You cannot get to grasp how greedy you have been with the residents.
"We agree that the adult social care precept has to go up two per cent.
"But that's all we would have increased the council tax by."
Cllr Mustafa Desai, leader of the 4BwD group which broke away from Labour over the party's stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict, said: "The council has and continues to go through financial challenges.
"There is no simple solution and I think there is going to be impact across the board."
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