Monmouthshire County Council has today set out its budget for the year ahead.
The cost of living crisis has impacted significantly on the Council. All contributing factors are energy costs, inflation, price rises, and rising interest rates.
The size of the budget challenge, before any intervention, was over £26million. Income and funding has increased by 9% (£ 16 million) to meet some of these costs, but the Council has still been left to find savings of 5% (£ 10 million) from services.
The council agreed a council tax increase of 5.95% for the coming year. The budget includes some very significant spending uplifts with £2.5million more for schools, £3.6million more to support children in the care system, £1.9million to ensure nobody has to sleep outdoors, £1million for the care of older members of our community and a £500k increase for the maintenance of roads, pavements and other highways infrastructure.
Council Leader, Cllr. Mary Ann Brocklesby said: “This has been a challenging budget process in which the funds available to the council have not met the rising cost of delivering services. Difficult decisions must be made as we reorganise our services to meet the limited funds available. We have worked across the Council to reach a common understanding reflected in today’s budget agreement. I thank Group Leaders and members for putting the needs of our residents first in coming to a consensus.
“This is a budget which places the council in a position to continue to deliver on its values and priorities: to tackle inequality, protect our environment and the wellbeing of the most vulnerable adults and children we serve. We can now push forward and work with residents and partners to redesign and deliver services fit for these uncertain and challenging times.”