Multi-million-pound investment in supporting vulnerable people, tackling flooding and fixing potholes have been given the green light, as Leicestershire County Council finalises its budget.
A 4.99 per cent Council Tax rise from April – equating to £1.54 more a week for a band D house - is also part of the four-year plan given the thumbs-up at a meeting this afternoon (Wednesday).
Budget papers show that rapidly rising demand for services, and inflation, is driving up costs by £214m, compared to expected extra income and savings of £123m.
Around £95m more will now be spent supporting vulnerable children and adults, the current programme for fixing potholes and roads will increase by £28m and another £1.5m will be invested in helping communities clean up and become flood-ready, bringing the total to £18.4m by 2029.
Reserves will be used to manage a small budget gap next year – by 2027, this gap is forecast to increase to £38m and rise to £91m by 2029.
Pressure on councils’ budgets continues to mount. And simply put, the cost of extra demand by far outweighs any increased income.
We’re doing the best we can with the funding we have - and investing money to provide vital support, keep our roads moving and get communities back on their feet after the terrible New Year floods.
The ‘extra’ money for councils that Government has announced so far doesn’t cover the impact of National Insurance and Living Wage rises, let alone shift the dial. It’s clear Government needs to tackle the big issues driving our costs head on.
Person:Councillor Deborah Taylor, acting leader
The council’s yearly budget totals £615m – the authority is one of the biggest organisations in the county, spending around £10m every week on crucial services for Leicestershire residents.
Taking tough decisions has stood us in good stead and means we’re not at crisis point.
We’re lean, high-performing and low funded, but need change to enable us to keep on delivering the services we know our residents value.
No one wants to increase Council Tax but without it, we’d have to make £20m more savings next year, and consultation feedback showed good support for our proposals.
Person:Councillor Lee Breckon, cabinet member for resources
The budget at a glance:
- The books balance for next year by using reserves to manage a small gap – with a budget gap of £38m in 2027, rising to £91m by 2029
- £1m extra to support flood-hit communities - following the devastating flooding in the New Year, plus £500k until April
- £95m more to support vulnerable people – in response to huge increase in demand
- An increase on the current four-year capital programme of £28m to help fix potholes and repair roads - taking the total spend on roads and related infrastructure, major schemes and tackling flooding to £156m
- A Council Tax rise of 4.99% from April – generating an extra £20m, which covers only the National Living Wage and National Insurance rises before any increased service demand is taken into account
- £33m of savings – including redesigning services, reducing the cost of back-office support services by maximising digital technology and smarter procurement, plus £52m to bring spend on SEND more in line with Government funding
- A £439m four-year capital pot – to fund one-costs of building roads, social care accommodation, new school places needed to support new housing, and more
A consultation on the budget proposals ran from 18 December to 19 January.
Residents’ Council Tax bills include levies from district councils, police, fire and parish and town councils who all set their own budgets.