Council leaders have been accused of treating residents as ‘piggy banks’ with plans for a massive tax hike to pay off historic debts.

Leaders of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead have said the council will go effectively bankrupt if it doesn’t get permission from the Government for a huge tax increase.

But Maidenhead resident Andrew Hill told them this meant making council-tax payers fork out for years of bad decisions made by the council. He accused them of planning to ‘raid the piggy banks formerly known as residents by hiking council tax up massively’.

READ MORE: Conservatives defend council tax cuts that cost RBWM £30 million

He added: “15 per cent? 30 per cent? How much does this cabinet propose to increase council tax by to pay off other people’s debt?”

Mr Hill was speaking at a meeting of the Royal Borough’s cabinet – its committee of leading councillors – on Wednesday, October 30.

The councillors were discussing a report into the state of council finances, which issued warnings over the more than £200 million debts the Royal Borough had built up over several years.

The report by CIPFA, which sets accounting rules for councils, said decisions by the council’s previous Conservative leaders to cut council tax, had left the Royal Borough £30 million a year worse off.

READ MORE: RBWM warned over deal to sell Maidenhead golf course

The council’s current Liberal Democrat and independent leaders now say it could go effectively bankrupt if the Government doesn’t let it raise council tax beyond the 5 per cent cap. They also want the Government to grant it permission to meet its day to day costs by selling off properties.

Councillor Lynne Jones, responsible for finance, said: “We know there are some tough and potentially unpopular decisions about services and assets ahead. But you only have to look at the damage previous council tax cuts have made to finances and the services we can provide.”

She added that the council would have to declare effective bankruptcy without ‘council tax increase above the current cap because we are not sustainable going forward with our current council tax’.

READ MORE: RBWM in ‘extremely challenging situation’

But Mr Hill said the council should instead ‘hold the bad guys accountable’ by making claims for negligence against very person and organisation responsible for borrowing decisions under previous leaderships.

He said: “Being politically bold should really mean holding the bad guys accountable, claim on the professional negligence insurance of every lawyer, baker, auditor, regulator or advisor who failed to warn about the risks of £200 million of unfunded debt.

“Whose reckless debt do you think it is? Residents’ debt or advisors’ debt?” Representatives of CIPFA said this would need detailed audits into each previous decision, and this work would still need to be done.