The authorities being capped are Aylesbury Vale, Daventry, Hambleton, Huntingdonshire, Mid Bedfordshire, North Dorset, Runnymede and South Cambridgeshire.
Additionally for one local authority - Sedgemoor District Council - ministers propose to set a notional budget for this year against which future increases will be measured for capping purposes.
With one exception, the maximum budgets for the eight authorities capped in year is the same as the Government proposed in March. The exception is South Cambridgeshire, for which the Government is allowing a higher cap, although the authority will still be required to make the largest budget reduction out of the eight authorities in order to meet its cap.
In a Written Statement to Parliament, Phil Woolas said:
"We are keeping our promise to protect council taxpayers against excessive increases. Given that we have increased funding to local government by 33 per cent in real terms since 1997, and that all authorities have received formula grant increases either in line with or above inflation in all of the last three years, there is no excuse for excessive council tax increases. We will not hesitate to use our capping powers in future years to deal with excessive increases if this proves necessary."
Subject to approval from the House of Commons, the local authorities that are being capped in year will need to issue lower council tax bills for the current year.
