Rise in council tax bills for Horsham households is agreed

During a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (February 9), members were told that a total of £12.188m was needed to meet the year’s requirements, while a capital programme of just over £10m was also in place.

The budget included £1m for environmental projects, £200,000 for Year of Culture legacy projects, and £958,000 for public realm works in Horsham.

HDC’s share of a council tax bill will go up by £4.57 a year (2.9 per cent) from £157.52 to £162.09 for a Band D property.

Richard Landeryou (Con, Rudgwick) said the budget was ‘balanced, prudent and fair’.

He added: “It maintains services and it also has an eye on the future, both fiscally and environmentally.”

As well as meeting the legal requirement to balance its budget, the council achieved a £716,000 surplus.

But less healthy years are forecast.

With the ongoing fallout from the pandemic bringing uncertainty around the economy, a deficit of £380,000 has been forecast for 2023/24, and more than £1million for 2024/25.

Tony Hogben, cabinet member for finance, also warned that the 2022/23 surplus could vanish rather quickly if inflation remained high.

Looking at the expenditure for the coming year, the £12.188m will cover everything from waste and recycling to leisure services to housing.

Mr Hogben said it was £1.1million lower than 2021/22 due to the gradual recovery from the Covid lockdown, but £1million higher than pre-Covid levels.

The capital budget – for large, one-off projects rather than the day-to-day running of the council – will be almost twice that of 2021/22.

Environmental work budgeted for will include the installation of LED lighting in council-owned car parks and at the Capitol Theatre.

The council will also start to replace its fleet with electric vehicles and extra staff will be taken on to support work with landowners on the green agenda.

As of March 31, general reserves are expected to be around £18million, which the meeting was told would be ‘sufficient’ to meet unplanned costs or if income falls short of the budgeted amount.

Louise Potter, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said she thought there were some ‘good initiatives’ in the budget but felt it lacked ‘a real appreciation of the challenges facing our residents and the district in the months ahead’.

Martin Boffey (Lib Dem, Trafalgar) said there were indications in the budget that the council was ‘heading in the right direction’ when it came to climate change.

But he felt the £1million injection was ‘a fairly modest start’, adding the council was ‘kicking the can down the road’.

He said: “We only have seven years left to hit net zero so there’s a hell of a lot of work to do. We really need to crack on.”

As for the budget as a whole, Mr Boffey called for more ambition, adding: “It’s a steady as she goes budget that hints at the correct direction of travel but needs an injection of boldness to get us where we need to be.”

The view was not shared by Brian Donnelly (Con, Pulborough, Coldwaltham & Amberley), who said urgency and boldness in the budget would be ‘a guarantee for chaos’, especially given rising inflation.