Slough council has released its draft budget for 2025/26 – but its proposals so far ‘do not yet fully provide a balanced budget’.
The revenue budget covers annual income and spending from day to day running of the council.
Services provided by the council included waste collection, council housing, schools, social care, roads and highways, parks, and libraries.
The total revenue budget proposed for the next financial year is just over £183million.
The council’s challenging financial position is well known, and the current budget gap is just over £17million.
Among the standout points in the draft budget, it assumes a council tax raise of 4.99 per cent.
This is the maximum it can be increased per year – unless special arrangements are made otherwise.
Each one per cent increase in council tax nets an additional £0.822million in 2025/26.
Of its income sources, Slough is anticipating around £8.7million from council tax, £42million from business rates, about £19.4million from grants, and £13.9million from Capitalisation Directions.
Slough council's assumptions for business rates include an inflationary increase of 1.7 per cent.
The council’s plan to fund projects through £9.8million of asset sales is no longer feasible because the expected sales won’t bring in enough money in time.
The long and short of this is that any new investments from 2024/25 onward that are not funded externally will need to be covered by new borrowing.
If certain schemes are approved, it will mean borrowing to the value of £11.2million over a five-year period to 2029/30.
Slough council expects its reserves to be at about £37.8million by the end of March next year. Its balance at the end of March this year was about £45.6million.
But there remain several years of unaudited accounts prior to 2023/24, so the figures are subject to change.
About £22million of reserves is set aside to meet costs for unforeseen events or emergencies.
The budget proposals do not yet fully provide a balanced budget for 2025/26 and all councils are required by law to set a balanced budget each year.
Further proposals will be necessary and present to cabinet in January.
The budget-setting process concludes in February 2025 at the Budget council meeting.
During the months ahead, Slough council will be asking for public views on some of the different proposals being put forward within the budget.
Cllr Dexter Smith, leader of the council, said:
“We are committed to improving our council and protecting the vulnerable in our borough while we meet our financial responsibilities.
“In our budget proposals we look at making best use of resources to deliver in ways that support our communities.
“It is vitally important residents can have confidence public money is being spent efficiently, and being invested in the areas which matter to them.
“The proposals will be shaped and formed in the months ahead as we listen to views and continue to evolve the initial proposals.
“I strongly encourage all those who live, work or study in Slough to engage in this process by telling us what is important to them and their families as this will be used to decide how the council will work in the future.”
Residents can read the budget proposals and all the papers for the cabinet meeting at: https://democracy.slough.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=109&MId=8574
They can have a say on the overall budget in a short survey that will be online early next week at: https://slough.citizenspace.com/communications/budget-25-26
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