A COUNCIL’S budget has revealed proposals to allocate more than £500,000 to supporting community projects and a controversial increase in council tax.

South Oxfordshire District Council has published its budget report for 2021/22.

The report was considered by the council’s Cabinet on February 4, and by the Scrutiny Committee on February 9. The budget will be debated, and voted on, at the full Council meeting on February 11.

The district council must agree the budget by the end of the month, however there is continued uncertainty over how much funding will be made available to local authorities this year and how much money they will need in order to meet the additional challenges caused by Covid-19.

Since the pandemic began, the district council has re-allocated significant resources in order to provide vital support for residents and businesses across the district. This has included: administering more than £33 million in Covid-19 support grants and running support services for businesses; and providing a new Community Support Hub, supporting 5,959 residents, including direct assistance for 803 people. It is currently expected that this work will need to continue well into 2021.

South Oxfordshire has repeatedly called on the government to urgently provide additional funding to help ensure the future of vital public services.

The council hopes the extra cash will help the council to continue to support residents and business during Covid-19, as well as address last years’ budget plans to tackle climate change through an emergency work programme.

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The proposed budget would result in an increase of £5 to current band “D” council tax, for services provided by the district council, to £131.24. Last year, South Oxfordshire’s band D rate of £126.24 was the seventh lowest in the country for a shire district and significantly lower than the national average of £194.22.

In addition, in the Capital Programme for 2025/26 it outlines that in March 31 2026, the council is currently projected to have invested at least £30 million of the £35 million permitted in capital schemes, including an ongoing £15 million loan to South Oxfordshire Housing Association.

Councillor Leigh Rawlins, Cabinet Member for Finance at South Oxfordshire District Council explained it is hard to say what the potential long-term impact of the pandemic will be, but that the council will be striving to ensure public services are protected.

He said:“One of our key themes is to improve economic and community well-being. We know that many people have been badly affected by the pandemic and we will continue to provide support for our residents and business, both while restrictions are in place and once the focus switches to economic recovery.”

He added: “We will also continue to focus on ensuring our financial stability and addressing the significant challenge posed by the substantial reduction in government funding over recent years and the ongoing lack of clarity over the future of local authority financing. As part of this effort we again ask the government to urgently address this situation and provide councils and their residents a long-term commitment to providing sufficient money to ensure that vital public services are protected.”

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