News Have your say on Council budgets

Residents and businesses are invited to have their say on Maidstone Borough Council's (MBC) spending priorities for the next year 2024/2025.

The Council wants to understand people’s views so they can be taken into account as it considers the budget for the coming financial year and are interested to hear people’s views on the spending priorities, use of services and living in Maidstone.

Cllr John Perry, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services at MBC said:

“The Council’s finances have recovered well since the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2022/2023 we set a balanced budget, and overall income and expenditure for the year were within budget. Your feedback from the last survey was fed into the budget process and we managed to set a balanced budget for the current financial year, 2023/24.

“Looking further ahead, the financial outlook for the Council is uncertain. Inflation remains high and this affects what we pay for the services we deliver to residents. At the same time, we are limited in the ways we can raise money to cover our costs. We also plan to fund an ambitious capital programme, which includes delivery of 1,000 new affordable homes in the borough.

“This means that we may have to make some difficult decisions in the near future, so we can set a balanced budget for 2024/25. Before we do this, we would like to hear your views which are important to us. They help councillors make decisions about how best to spend the Council’s money, and how we can raise money in the first place.”

Complete the short survey by 28 August on spending priorities and the Council's budget for 2024/25. The survey takes about 3 to 6 minutes to complete: https://letstalkmaidstone.uk.engagementhq.com/budget-consultation-2023

Responses will be considered by Councillors at Committee meetings taking place over the next couple of months before the budget is debated by Full Council 21 February 2024.

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