CUTS to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s (RBWM) budget might be needed if “assumed” government grants are not forthcoming.

The Conservative-run council’s draft 2022/23 budget, which will go out for consultation for finalisation, was discussed at a cabinet meeting on Thursday, November 25.

It proposes a two per cent increase in council tax and a one per cent rise in the social care precept – an increase of £33.38 or just less than 64p a week, for band D households.

Council leader Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) said RBWM is now “back on the right financial track,” and the 2022/23 budget builds further secure the council’s finances in the long-term.

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He also said the council tax increase will still leave RBWM having the fourth-lowest level of council tax in England outside London and the lowest by hundreds of pounds in Berkshire.

The council is expecting to receive the last tranche of the New Homes Bonus Funding of £220,000 next year and is “assuming” an additional grant from government of about £3m.

The £3m is based on the “expected” rise of the government’s core spending power to local authorities by about 6.2 per cent.

This would lead to RBWM balancing the budget, but this is based on a “best guess” as it is not clear yet whether all councils will receive the same 6.2 per cent increase. An announcement on this won’t be made by government until December at the earliest.

 

Cllr John Baldwin

Cllr John Baldwin

 

Cllr John Baldwin (Lib Dem: Belmont) said he was “extremely concerned” by this assumption, fearing the council could receive nothing or less than predicted.

Chief finance officer Adele Taylor it is a “sensible judgement call” to estimate it as £3m but it does pose a “potential risk” where cuts may need to be made for one year if the full amount is not forthcoming.

On the flip side, if more grant funding is received from government, that can be used to pump more money into services.

But the leader of the opposing Liberal Democrats asked if a “pencilled list” of savings have been drawn up RBWM has to adopt plan B, adding: “I think it would be negligent not to have a good idea where [we’re] going to go if we don’t get, say, a million pounds out of that £3m.”

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Cllr David Hilton (Con: Ascot & Sunninghill), lead member for finance, said: “My confidence levels in that funding are my confidence levels in Adele Taylor and Andrew Vallance [finance officer], and those confidence levels are very high.

“They may not have it right, but I tell you what, it’s not going to be a million miles long.”

The draft budget will go out to public consultation in December and January and then go back to the council for final approval on February 22, 2022.