Full Council approves budget and financial plan and provisionally sets council tax rise for 2017/18

At the Full Council meeting of 22 November, councillors approved a budget and financial plan which, it is hoped, will mitigate frontline services from the impact of further cuts in Government funding. The budget and business plan was approved by 65 votes to 32 at today’s meeting of the full Council. The final decision on the budget and the level of Council tax will be made by Members at the full Council meeting in February 2017.

The Council needs to make savings of £107m over the next four years as a result of ongoing reductions in Government funding and additional spending pressures.  As a result the actions set out in the four year medium term financial plan agreed last year have been revised to meet the amended savings target.  This includes a proposed revenue budget of £492 million for the 2017/2018 financial year, with a savings target of £34m.

The proposed budget is based on a council tax increase of 1.97%, a weekly increase of 51p a week for a Band D property, and a social care precept levy of 2% (52p a week). The social care precept levy will generate an additional £5.2m for adult social care, part of an extra £11m investment (9% increase) into Adult Social Care services this year to make sure vulnerable adults get the support they need.

Further details of the Budget are on the Council's website.

November 2016