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The budget for 2007/08 has formally been approved
resulting in the lowest council tax rise in a
decade.
Councillors approved the budget and council tax at a
Full Council meeting on
20 February 2007.
A 3% rise in council tax was agreed - the lowest rate of
increase for 10 years.
It means the average band D property precept will be £1080.26
for our services in 2007/08.
With the addition of the police, fire and parish and town
council precepts, which we do not set, the total bill for an a
average band D property will rise to £1319.13 - an overall increase
of 3.48%.
The agreed budget contains a £40m capital programme which
includes the following:
- £25m to continue our substantial investment in local schools
and youth facilities
- £5.5m on adult social care and housing services
- £6.4m on transport, environmental and community safety
improvements
In preparing the budget for 2007/08 we faced a number of
problems including the following:
- The increased cost of providing services - including contracts
for highway maintenance and energy and staffing costs
- A relatively low increase of 2.3% in central government
funding
- An ageing population placing increasing demands on adult social
services
In response to this a total of £8.5m in savings have been
identified across the council in order to keep the council tax
increase as low as possible while still maintaining essential
service standards.
These savings include the following:
- £2.6m in efficiency savings in the way we work
- £2.2m in increases in income
- £3.7m in savings from a range of measures to reduce expenditure
by trimming budgets as tightly as possible
We will issue our medium-term financial forecast and budget book
for 2007/08 in March 2007.
Following an Executive meeting on 13 February 2007 it
recommended a council tax rise of 3% in respect of council
services.
It noted the strong public reaction to the above-inflation
increases in council tax in recent years in arriving at its
decision.
It was also concerned with the affordability of council tax for
those on low and fixed incomes and looked forward to the results of
the Lyons review on system reform.
For further information and background on the Executive's
decisions please use the following links:
The Executive approved a draft budget back in December 2006
following the setting of its budget principles in October 2006.
For further information on the December 2006 reports please use
the following links:
For further information on the October 2006 reports please use
the following links:
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