Oakham & Rutland News: Take Part in Rutland County Council Draft Budget consultation 2025 by completing their survey

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Have Your Say on Rutland's Future: Budget Consultation Underway, Take Part in Rutland County Council Draft Budget consultation 2025 by completing their survey

Have Your Say on Rutland's Future: Budget Consultation Underway

Rutland County Council is currently consulting with residents on its crucial annual budget for the 2025/26 financial year. This vital process shapes the delivery of vital services across the county, impacting everything from local roads and social care to environmental protection and community support.

Balancing Act:

Setting a balanced budget is a complex challenge. The Council must carefully weigh its spending priorities against its income streams, which primarily consist of government grants, fees and charges, Council Tax, and Business Rates. The Council's Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) provides a crucial roadmap, outlining a three-year spending plan that ensures financial sustainability and long-term service delivery.

Your Voice Matters:

The public consultation period, running until Sunday, February 2nd, 2025, offers residents a unique opportunity to directly influence the Council's budget decisions. Every voice counts. By sharing your views and concerns, you can help shape the future of Rutland and ensure that Council resources are allocated effectively and efficiently.

How to Participate:

Online: Visit the Council's website to access the consultation documents and submit your feedback electronically.

Phone: For those without internet access, call 01572 722 577 to participate.

Impact of Your Feedback:

All feedback received during the consultation will be carefully considered by Council members. The input from residents will play a vital role in the budget debate and ultimately inform the final decisions made by the Cabinet and Full Council.

Beyond the Budget:

The Council is also conducting a separate public consultation on the provision of local library services in Ryhall. Details regarding this consultation will be announced shortly.

Call to Action:

This is your chance to make a difference. Take a few moments to review the budget proposals, share your thoughts, and help shape a brighter future for Rutland. Your active participation is crucial to ensuring that Council services meet the needs of our community.

Take Part in Rutland County Council Draft Budget consultation 2025 by completing their survey:

www.surveymonkey.com/r/PP8Z23T

Key points

Some of the key things to note in our 2025 to 2026 budget are:

the total cost of funding local services in Rutland in 2025/26 is £91.3 million (up from £85.9 million last year)
the Council has seen its costs rise by an additional £5.6m heading into 2025/26. This includes the loss of government grant funding worth £1.5m
the budget includes a Council Tax rise of 2.99%, together with a 2% precept to help fund adult social care services. If approved, the average Council Tax for a Band D property would increase by £8.78 per month
the budget includes £1.3m of Council Tax Reduction Scheme support to help people and families on a low income
we expect to generate additional income of £1.1m from fees and charges in 2025/26. By law, we can’t make a profit through fees and charges and can only use them to recover the cost of delivering a service
inflation is estimated to lead to additional budgetary pressures of £0.9m in 2025/26, rising to £2.5m by 2027/28.
the Council’s energy bills are expected to increase by 7% next year
a gradual rise in the number of children requiring care in Rutland and the complexity of this care is expected to cost an additional £0.3m by 2027/28
demand for Adult Social Care (ASC) care packages continues to grow and is expected to cost an additional £1.4m by 2027/28

What Rutland County Council are spending

Rutland County Councils draft budget for 2025/26 includes the follow spending plans for key frontline services:

£19.2million for Adults and Health Services, which include day care, community care, residential care and protection
£8.2million for Children’s and Families Services such as fostering, adoption, residential care, and support for children with disabilities
£6.9million to for Highways and Transport. This includes public transport and the maintenance of all roads, car parks, footpaths, bridges, and street lighting in the County, together with the cost of winter gritting, traffic management and road safety
£5.6million for Environmental Services. This includes recycling and disposal of waste, as well as the cost of running Rutland’s recycling centres
£1.1million for our Planning Services, such as planning policy and development control

More detailed information can be found in Appendix A that accompanies the Annual Budget Report for Cabinet on 14 January 2025. (Shown Below)

What Rutland County Council are Cutting

We’ve seen our costs increase by £5.6m going into 2025/26. This includes the loss of general government grant of £1.5m. We are therefore proposing the following measures, among others, to help balance our budget:

£80k saving by changing how we book beds when arranging care packages for older people
£95k saving by capitalising Highways employee costs
£280k additional income from fees and charges for Highways Services
£363k saving resulting from a new waste transfer station contract and income from recyclable materials
£273k in additional interest generated from cash balances and a revised interest rate forecast
£293k saving from revised staff Pay Award assumptions, based on the Government’s Provisional Settlement
£152k release of money set aside in previous budgets to support Adult Social Care reform, which won’t now be implemented by the Government

More detailed information can be found in Appendix B that accompanies the Annual Budget Report for Cabinet on 14 January 2025. (Shown Below)

Council Tax

Government policy means that Rutland County Council continues to rely on Council Tax as its main source of income.

The government uses something called Core Spending Power (CSP) to measure how much income councils can generate from various sources, which then influences how much national funding they get to help with the cost of running local services. This CSP calculation includes assumptions on future funding that councils may or may not want to approve, like increasing Council Tax.

Because of the way Rutland’s CSP is calculated by government, we have a general grant allocation of £539.22 per dwelling, compared to a national average £1,165.89. As a result of this, we rely on Council Tax for 79% of our funding, compared to the national average of 56%. Without your Council Tax, we wouldn’t be able to deliver services to support vulnerable people, like adults and children who need care or protection. Your Council Tax also helps to pay for local services such as roads, transport and waste collection, as well as statutory services that keep communities safe and well.

Rutland County Councils budget for 2025/26 proposes a 4.99% increase in Council Tax, which comprises 2.99% general tax and a 2% precept to help pay for Adult Social Care services. This means the Band D rate in Rutland would rise to £2,218.95 for our element of the Council Tax charge (an increase of £105.46, or £8.78 per month).

Appendix A