Every year the council must set a balanced budget. We do this by assessing what changes we need to make to last year’s budget, based on our future plans and expected changes to our income or expenditure.
A new budget will be presented for local Councillors to approve in February 2024. Before this, we are inviting residents, tenants, businesses and organisations to comment on our draft budget proposals. The results will be fed back to the elected Councillors who are responsible for setting the budget, for them to consider before the budget is approved.
The council’s finances are split into two:
- The Housing Revenue Account is set up specifically for the landlord service that we provide, and shows how we spend the money we receive from our tenants via rent and service charges.
- The General Fund covers everything else we do, from collecting waste to promoting tourism in our district, and is funded primarily by the council tax we receive from residents and business rates we receive from businesses.
This survey focuses on the General Fund but if you answer ‘yes’ to the ‘Do you live in a property owned by the council’ question, you will be asked an additional question about the Housing Revenue Account.