Business rate and council tax payers in West Oxfordshire are being asked for their views on the District Council’s budget setting strategy.
West Oxfordshire District Council is currently preparing its annual budget for 2018-19 and is consulting on its proposals to increase council tax by £5 on average.
The Council faces a number of significant financial pressures over the forthcoming year with reductions in government funding of over £0.25m and increasing waste and recycling costs of £0.6m.
Cllr Toby Morris, Cabinet Member for Resources, said “We must review our immediate spending to counteract these changes in funds. We’re proposing an average council tax increase of £5 for residents and this will help to protect our frontline services and allow us to continue to offer free parking and grants for voluntary organisations.
“This figure has been minimised by our shared working with Cotswold, Cheltenham and Forest of Dean Councils. Working together under the new local authority-owned company, Publica, is proving extremely beneficial and is expected to save West Oxfordshire council taxpayers £1.6 million per annum, or £16 million over the next10 years.”
Residents are urged to have their say on our budget proposals before 5pm on Friday 19 January. The online consultation should only take a few minutes to complete.
For more information and to complete the survey, see www.westoxon.gov.uk/budget