Horsham District Council plans to raise council tax and ‘significantly increase fees and charges’

The news was shared during a meeting of the cabinet on Thursday (January 25) where a report into the 2024/25 budget was presented. Mark Baynham, cabinet member for finance & resources, said the basic council tax for Horsham would rise by 2 per cent for most residents – £3.34 on a Band D property.

This would take the council’s portion of the average bill from £166.94 to £170.28. On top of that, residents in the three un-parished wards – Denne, Forest and Trafalgar – will see the special charge increased by 35 per cent (£9.69). Mr Baynham described the increases as ‘pretty modest’.

Net expenditure for the coming financial year will increase by £800k to £14.5million, which Mr Baynham said was mainly as a result of inflation and a pay settlement which ‘cost us more than we were generally expecting’.

Some £10.5m has been included in the capital programme, with money going to schemes and projects such as the Horsham Skate Park (£6,701), an upgrade to the Oakhurst sub-station (£500,000) and the Albion Way connectivity project (£147,223).

The net revenue budget, which is used for day-to-day expenses, will be set at £14.538m. A residual budget deficit of £600,000 is to be covered by money from the one-off £3.55m Funding Guarantee Grant given to the council by the government.

The report said this would allow the council to ‘balance the budget in the short term and buys some time to make considered decisions’. The picture for the future does not look so pretty.

The Medium Term Financial Strategy has forecast deficits of £3.7m to 2029/30.

Mr Baynham said: “That’s something we won’t allow to happen. In fact it’s something we can’t allow to happen because we are legally obliged to set a balanced budget – and every year we will do so.”

He told the meeting that, while he couldn’t tell them how it would be done now, he would be able to next year once work within the Annual Plan – ‘a plan to make a plan’ – had been carried out.

He added: “The budget, to my mind, is both prudent and realistic and it’s designed to support our ambitious and exciting Annual Plan.”

There could be a boost to the coffers just around the corner. The government recently announced that there would be additional funding for local government – largely for social care.

This could see the council receive another £144k, though the authority won’t find out until sometime in February.

Looking at the proposed increase in charges, they will cover everything from the cost of Food Hygiene and Health & Safety Courses to street trading to hackney cab licences to scrap metal licences.

The recommendations will be put to a meeting of the full council on February 21 for final approval.