Have your say on budget proposals
Date Added: 05/01/2021
Have your say by 5pm, 27 January 2021
Each winter, the Council refreshes its budget proposals which includes proposals for Council Tax in 2021/22.
In the next financial year (from April 2021 until March 2022), we expect to be spending £402million on services. This is known as the revenue budget and is largely funded by council tax and business rates.
The largest proportion of the funding is spent on more specialist services for those who are most in need of help, including those who are disabled, may need care services or protection. This includes services for children and young people as well as older or other vulnerable adults.
This budget also funds our core services such as refuse and recycling, roads, leisure, libraries, parks and countryside services.
A further £128million is expected to be spent on schools, roads and other infrastructure projects. This is funded through loans or selling land or buildings the council owns and reinvesting this money.
The budget also includes efficiency proposals totalling £10.7million as we continue to review how we work to ensure we are as efficient as possible.
But we continue to face big increases in demands, particularly in Adult Social Care. We also recognise the pressures we face in key areas and plan to make specific investments in services such as public health, social care and children’s services (including services for children with special educational needs/disabilities). We will also need to focus on economic recovery and supporting job creation.
To bridge the gap between what we need and what we anticipate in terms of income, we propose an overall increase in Council Tax for Central Bedfordshire Council of 4.95%:
3% of this increase would be only used to support social care services for vulnerable adults, either living in their own homes or in residential care
1.95% of this increase would be used to support the Council’s other services
For a Band D property this would result in a council tax increase of less than £1.50 per week.
Have your say
You can have your say on these proposals on the council website.
Have your say
For those who would prefer to fill in a paper copy of the survey, please call the Council on 0300 300 8000.
The consultation closes at 5pm 27 January 2021.
Elected Councillors will consider your feedback before setting a final budget in February 2021.