There’s a chance for everyone to have their say on our budgets for the next financial year (2025/26) via our engagement hub.
Next year’s draft revenue budget and the capital budget are now open for public comments before they are put forward for final approval at a full council meeting on 26 February.
More information about this year’s draft budgets can be found at www.hertsmere.gov.uk/budget-consultation
The draft budget papers offer a detailed insight into the current economic and other external influences and outlines how the council proposes to present a balanced budget for 2025/26. The papers also explain some of the external pressures we've faced in our financial position and highlights the amount of central government funding we expect to receive and how this will contribute towards our budgeted net spend.
Our Portfolio Holder for Finance, Cllr Chris Shenton, explained: "A summary of our proposals has been prepared and there’s now an opportunity for everyone to review these and provide us with comments via our engagement hub. Our short online survey aims to gauge views on the proposed council tax increase and which of our services respondents consider most important.
"Setting a balanced budget for next year has proved extremely challenging, economic and other factors are putting pressure on our budgets and a challenging financial settlement will mean our core Government funding remains at the current level without any inflationary increases. We’re also awaiting confirmation that Employers’ National Insurance increases will be fully funded.
“We’re therefore recommending an increase of 2.99 per cent for our share of council tax in the budget for this forthcoming financial year which we consider essential to enable us to protect the council tax base value and continue to deliver our range of services for Hertsmere’s residents.
"We’ll be seeking final approval of our budgets at our full council meeting at the end of February and, in the meantime, welcome comments on the proposals."
In order to help fund the proposed revenue budget, a 2.99 per cent (equivalent to £6.10 for the next financial year for an average band D property) increase in Hertsmere Borough Council's share of council tax bills is being proposed. This would represent a 12p increase per week per average household for the coming year.
Under the proposals, a resident in a Band D property would pay an average of £210.06 in council tax to Hertsmere Borough Council for its services for the year 2025/6 – just 58p per day. Hertsmere's share of the council tax represents around 9% of the total collected, with Hertfordshire County Council receiving 77%, the police receiving 12% and the parish and town councils two per cent. The county council and the police are responsible for setting their own council tax.
To find out more information, read our 2025/26 draft budget summary www.hertsmere.gov.uk/budget-consultation where you can also find details of how to fill out the online survey. If you are not able to complete the survey online, please visit our Civic Offices or your local library where a member of staff can help you to do so.
Closing date for views is midnight on 16 February 2025.
The proposed council tax charge will fund the key services the council provides including waste and recycling collections; planning services; housing services; parks and open spaces; street cleaning and environmental health; benefits administration and contributions towards voluntary bodies.
