DUDLEY Council looks set to freeze council tax rates for another year.

Borough bosses say they “do not want to hit the hard working people of Dudley any more during these difficult financial times” so they are proposing to freeze council tax levels once more.

Councillor Pete Lowe, Dudley’s deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said: “This will ensure Dudley borough residents are paying some of the lowest council tax levels in the country and the lowest in the Black Country.”

The proposal will go before the council’s cabinet on Wednesday February 12 as part of wider budget plans which aim to save the authority around £60million over the next three years.

Cllr Lowe added: “Due to the significant cuts in government funding that have been imposed on us we are having to make extremely difficult decisions in relation to making millions of pounds worth of savings.”

But he said the council hopes to spare residents from further financial pain by freezing its element of the council tax with the help of a £1.1m grant from the government.

Dudley residents currently pay the lowest Council Tax in the Black Country, the second lowest in the West Midlands and £14 per month less than the national average.

Once the council tax freeze proposal has been voted on by the cabinet it will go before the full council on March 3 for the final decision.