Draft budget consultation
Published
Thursday 28 November, 2024
Updated
Thursday 28 November, 2024
People are being asked to have their say on Swale Borough Council’s proposed budget for the next financial year.
On Wednesday 27 November 2024 the Policy and Resources Committee agreed for the draft budget for 2025/26 to go out to consultation.
The draft budget outlines £2.3m of proposed savings, efficiencies and increased income, leaving a budget gap of £1.5m which would be funded from reserves if further crucial savings are not found.
It includes measures to balance the budget, such as:
- increasing council tax by 2.96%, an 11 pence per week increase for a Band D home.
- increasing income from fees and charges
- making savings from the council’s major contracts
- finding alternative income streams
The consultation process is the opportunity for the public to comment on these proposals, and includes questions about how the council can increase savings, increase revenue and decrease spending.
It also asks for the public's opinion on their planned capital spending such as buying new assets and increasing council tax.
All council tax collected in Swale is shared between Kent County Council, Kent Fire and Rescue service, Kent Police and town or parish councils where these are in place.
This means Swale Borough Council receives only 9p out of every pound of your council tax bill.
This limited funding is used to provide a wide variety of services:
- waste and recycling collection
- environmental protection
- street cleaning
- dealing with littering and fly tipping
- parks and open spaces
- car parks
- public toilets
- council tax and housing benefits
- dealing with planning applications
- providing leisure centres and swimming pools
- providing support for homeless people
While other services such as roadworks, social care, schools and libraries are delivered by Kent County Council.
Cllr Tim Gibson, leader of the council, said:
“We work hard to provide the best services that we can for local people, but the simple fact is that services like supporting people facing homelessness, maintaining our green spaces, keeping the borough clean and much more, all need to be paid for.
“In recent years our costs have risen significantly, and we are only allowed to increase the money we receive from council tax by a very small amount and in order to balance the books, we continually look for more ways to make efficiency savings and increase our income where we can.
“Despite these challenges we are committed to getting the best value out of every pound that we receive to improve the lives of our local people.
“This draft budget outlines how we propose to do this, but we want to hear your views to help in informing the hard choices that we are making.
“I know that we will not be able to deliver everything that everyone wants, but we will strive to continue providing good services, whilst also being honest and open about the challenges that we are facing.
“Please take some time to read through our draft budget and give us your honest thoughts and feedback on what is most important to you.”
The consultation runs until 5pm, Wednesday 8 January 2025, and you can find out more and have your say at https://swale.gov.uk/your-council/consultations/budget-consultation
The results of the consultation will be reported to the Policy and Resources Committee on 5 February 2025, before full council is asked to approve the final budget on 19 February 2025.
