Big ambitions, balanced books
Cllr Sean Matthews speaking at the latest budget meeting.
How we will spend your money during this year
With costs that have gone up by more than £80million this year, there has needed to be a balance between keeping council tax low and paying for vital services.
Council leader, Cllr Sean Matthews explained: “This is our first budget as a new administration. The government has provided some additional funding to reflect that the county has been under-funded in the past, but it won’t be anywhere near enough to cover our extra costs. We are meeting that challenge by rooting out wasteful spending.
“We have been left a legacy of projects which need to be finished, such as major road projects, so we have to make sure they are completed. But just like residents save up for bigger purchases, the council should do the same! We do not want to borrow money to fund future projects.”
In addition to an extra £36m from the government, the budget proposals include efficiency savings and using a proportion of the council’s reserves.
To raise some additional funding, the council has agreed to raise council tax by 2.9%, of which 2% will only be used to fund increasing costs of adult social care. The small increase in council tax adds 90p per week on the average band D property.
Cllr Tom Catton is the council’s executive councillor for finance. He explained: “Our executive has identified £35.5m of known savings for 26/27. These savings will rise to £62.6m in the coming years. But this is just the beginning, I am confident we will find further savings.
“We have reviewed the reserves we hold and have identified money we can use this year without adverse risk to the council. We owe it to the residents that chose change last May, to look at things differently and to deliver that change. I genuinely do not believe we can ask residents to pay more in council tax while we have money in the bank above what we truly need.”
Cllr Tom Catton speaking at the latest budget meeting.
A consultation was held earlier in the year to get feedback from residents, businesses and other organisations on increasing council tax and Cllr Catton thanked all those who took part. “I would like to thank everyone who took part in our public budget consultation. I read every single one of the 389 comments that were made.
“Consistently, residents told us that they were still worried about the impacts of increasing council tax on their own finances. But equally many worried about the council not balancing the books and having to cut services. Our budget addresses both of these issues.”
Our 2026 budget includes:
- £61 million to maintain the roads, including an extra £6 million for pothole drainage
- £138 million for children's social services - £21.5 million more than last year, including for SEND support and children in care
- £189 million for care for older people and adults with disabilities - £30 million more than last year
- £4.4 million for new fire engines and life saving equipment
