Households in Crawley could face increased council tax from April
The Borough Council will need to take from funding reserves to plug a gap
Crawley Borough Council plans to increase its portion of the average 2023/24 council tax bill by 2.99 per cent.
If approved by full council later this month, the change would see Band D bills rise by £6.55 to £225.34.
The bills would also include expected rises of £15 from Sussex Police and £77.67 from West Sussex County Council.
During a meeting of the cabinet on Wednesday (February 1), members were told that £261,970 would have to be taken from reserves to plug a gap in the 2023/24 budget.
The additional costs of homelessness, pay and inflation were the main reasons for the shortfall.
A gap of just over £1m was forecast for the 2024/25 budget.
The capital budget will stand at £72.3m, with an increase of £900,000 to pay for water-saving retrofitting work on Crawley Homes properties.
Another £1.15m was added to help provide temporary accommodation for the growing number of people in need.
A report to the cabinet said there are currently 396 homeless households living in temporary homes, with 206 of those being
housed in very expensive nightly-paid hotel ot bed and breakfast accommodation.
Council leader Michael Jones said the budget was ‘realistic and achievable’ given the financial pressures being placed on the authority.
He added: “We’ve done everything we can to minimise what has to be taken out of reserves,
“This is a prudent and sensible budget for the year that will maintain front-line services to a standard that we have always valued.
“There will be time over the next year to work out what the council will need to do in order to deal with some of the unexpected costs we will be facing in this and future years.
“I do feel confident that the council will be able to proceed and meet those challenges in the future.”