The Town Council is developing its Revenue and Capital Budget for the 2025/26 financial year.
Despite inflation coming down, we continue to see price rises and pressures on our daily budgets - fuel, gas, electricity, food, insurance and general goods and services – everywhere we see constant increases in costs.
These increases continue to affect all of us - individuals, families, community groups, businesses, and public sector bodies are feeling the pinch and trying to make savings wherever possible.
The Town Council continues to face financial challenges in order to balance the books, both in the current financial year and looking ahead to next year.
The Town Council continues to review the impact of the ongoing economic difficulties and cost-of-living crisis on our finances ahead of the setting of the 2025/26 Budget in January. There continues to be inflationary increases in running costs, staff pay increases, the significant impact of the recent national insurance changes following the Government Budget, substantial capital investment commitments, as well as a projected fall in Council balances and reserves.
The Council is also facing the second-year reduction in the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme Grant by Durham County Council in 2025/26. Without this cut in funding, the proposed core Town Council Tax increase for 2025/26 would have been 2.13%, The Council has been able to keep the increase below the current rate of inflation as a result of ongoing efforts to cut costs, increase income and deliver value for money.
However as a direct result of the Durham County Council cut in the Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme Grant, the required Town Council tax increase, set out in the draft Revenue Budget reported to the Council in October, was 3.75%.
The recent increase in National Insurance costs by the Government has created further pressure on the Council' Revenue Budget. We are currently looking at options to offset this increase, which unfortunately may include a further increase in the Town Council Tax of up to 5%.
The Council strives to identify and deliver efficiency savings and generate new income whilst protecting and maintaining all of the facilities, services and events the residents of Great Aycliffe value and trying to keep any required increase in the Town Council element of the Council Tax bill as low as possible.
2025/26 Revenue Budget and Council Tax Proposals
The Council is proposing a 2025/26 Revenue Budget that protects and maintains our current services, facilities, and events next year. We also aim to maintain some surplus resources in the budget to allow balances and reserves to be replenished in order to continue to make capital investment in community assets such as cemeteries, allotments, parks and play areas, in the coming years.
The Council proposes to raise the core Town Council proportion of the Council Tax bill by around £4.06 (2.13%) next year for the vast majority of local taxpayers. This is slightly below the current rate of inflation and has been achieved by ongoing efforts to cut costs, increase income and deliver value for money.
However, as a result of the cut in Local Council Tax Reduction Scheme Grant funding being imposed by Durham County Council, the proposed increase will regrettably be around £7.15 (3.75%).
We hope you agree that a monthly increase of £0.34 in the core Town Council element of the Council Tax bill, increasing to £0.60 is a small price to pay to ensure that all the existing services provided by the Town Council can be protected for another year.
There is more information on the Council’s draft 2025/26 budget proposals on the meetings section of the Council’s website.