Mid Sussex District Council plans to increase its portion of the council tax bill

The rise was proposed during a meeting of the cabinet on Monday (February 2) and will be put to the full council for final approval later this month.

The increase will see the council’s portion of Band D bills rise from £196.43 to £202.22 from April.

On top of this, residents face a £15 increase from Sussex Police and a proposed £89.82 increase from the county council.

Council tax represents more than half of the money needed to run the council and its services – more than £24m in 2026/27.

The meeting was told that the budget would be balanced without the need to dig into the council’s reserves – though it will draw on £580,000 of treasury management income.

From 2027/28 reserves will need to be used, while in 2028/29, a budget shortfall of just over £1m is forecast, growing to £6.4m in 2029/30.

By then, the council will have been replaced by a much larger unitary authority, likely including Horsham and Crawley.

Deputy leader Chris Hobbs said: “We must ensure that we manage this council within its means until then, and our focus has to be on continuing to deliver quality services for our residents for this year and for years to come.”

Mr Hobbs added: “It is clear that there is no fat in this budget, and once more we rely on income from the interest earned on savings – £580,000 to come from treasury management income in order to balance the books.

“We are very lucky to have this option but it shows us continually how precarious our position is in balancing those books.”

There is good news for people who use the council’s car parks – no changes to the tariff’s are proposed in the coming year, beyond those already approved. This position will be reviewed in the autumn of 2026.

In the meantime, the Capital Programme includes £350,000 for the roll-out of barrier-less ANPR systems in six car parks, and £160,000 for improvement work across the board, including surfacing and lighting.

The more green-fingered residents will see the cost of the garden waste collection increase by £2.

Leader Robert Eggleston said local authorities were ‘living in difficult times’.

He added: “The next two years will see some considerable change for this local authority…and this budget helps us to prepare for those changes in a sensible and prudent way.”