How councils in Northamptonshire want to spend your money

Both of Northamptonshire's unitary councils are meeting this week to finalise their budgets for the next financial year.

West and North Northamptonshire councils say they have put together a balanced budget, which means they should not overspend.

Residents in both areas will see a council tax increase of the maximum allowed by the government without a referendum.

So what does all this mean for people in Northamptonshire?

Like any household or company, councils have to be able to live within their means, with expenditure not exceeding income.

It is a legal requirement for their annual budgets to be balanced - i.e., fully funded.

This means calculations have to be made about the level of demand that local services are likely to have, the possible increase in the costs of providing those services, and the amount of council tax that will be collected.

Even if the council's costs are increasing, it cannot simply raise the council tax to fill the gap.

Rules introduced in 2012 mean that an authority must hold a referendum - and secure a "yes" vote - if it wants to increase the tax figure by 5% or more.

The labour government has made the rules stricter, by only allowing councils to increase their tax figure by more than 5% if they have low tax levels to start with.

Both North and West Northamptonshire councils are proposing increases of 4.99%.

This means the charge for a Band D house in the North Northamptonshire area will go up by £86.84, while the charge in the West Northamptonshire area will be £88.73.

The leader of the council, Jason Smithers, said the last year had been "extremely tough financially". He added that the increasing demand for social care was "placing an unprecedented financial pressure on the council".

Despite this, he said, there would be "no service cuts".

The overall revenue budget for services including social care, education, waste disposal, highways and housing, is £400.93m.

The council said it is investing an extra £51.9m into services, including £23.7m into adult social care and £6.2m into children's services.

It will also spend £180.4m over four years on capital projects, including £43.6m on highways and £36.6m on housing.

Various fees and charges have been increased to fund some of the expenditure including country park parking permits and discretionary home to school transport.

West Northamptonshire Council said it was planning a capital programme worth £100m, which would include £12m on highway improvements.

It was also setting aside £2m to create family hubs in Daventry and Northampton, and £3.8m for the Northampton North-West Relief Road.

A total of £20m would be spent on temporary accommodation.

Another £11.1m was set aside for the new crematorium in Round Spinney, Northampton, and £5.3m would go towards a new mortuary in Booth Meadow.

The proposals also included increased parking fees and the cost of garden waste collections.

North Northamptonshire Council's executive has approved the final budget proposals for their area, and the West Northamptonshire Council Cabinet has fulfilled the same function for its half of the county.

The proposals then went out to consultation, and the final drafts will come before the full councils on 20 February.

Opposition parties can put forward their own alternative budgets, although these usually have very little impact on the final decision.

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