Increased investment in areas including such street cleansing, graffiti cleaning and parks and open spaces, will be considered by Thanet council Cabinet on Thursday 11 January.
The measures are part of the council’s proposed budget for April 2024 to March 2025, which sets out how the public services the council provides, as well as spending on new proposals, will be financed.
Proposals to increase net spending in council services by £2.2m were initially considered by the Cabinet in October 2023. This investment was proposed to address inflationary pressures as a result of rising costs in fuel, transport and staffing and to target more resources to the services which matter most to residents.
Thanet council’s revenue expenditure budget for the coming year is £23.457million, a £2.045m increase compared to the 2023/24 budget.
The increase has been financed from areas including additional retained business rates income (£1.411m); increases in fees and charges (£0.234m); one-off net reserve contributions (£0.526m) and council tax income (£0.705m).
Service spend
The revised budget now sets out plans for an extra £180,000 to tackle weed clearance and graffiti and includes a one-off allocation of £50,000 to support working with the community to maximise participation in active sports and to improve the pitches at Jackey Bakers and elsewhere.
Plans include employing three full time equivalent Open Spaces staff over a two year period, also creating capacity for additional graffiti cleaning within the Minor Works team.
A £35k investment will be made for an additional vehicle for the service and there is a proposal to employ two further graffiti cleaning operatives in 2024/25.
An additional £100k will be used to fund Hot Foam weed control after concerns were raised about the use of Glyphosate. The hot foam equipment can also be used to clean graffiti and chewing gum from walls and pavements.
A £30,000 budget is proposed for playground maintenance.
A £168,000 spend is proposed to create six new street cleansing operative posts, meaning an increase in permanent staffing in this area of 26%.
Resident Engagement £11k – Allocation to continue using the new online engagement platform ‘Your Voice Thanet’
Member Casework Delivery Officer £33k – One additional full time equivalent post for improved coordination of councillor casework and responding to ward queries.
Pay awards – A 5.75% pay award costing approximately £1.075m.
Port and Harbour Dredging £180k – The dredging budget has been reduced over several years to the point where the port and harbour cannot complete adequate dredging operations to maintain safe access to the port and harbour.
Port and Harbour Maintenance £50k – Maintenance contract with approved lock gate operator for 6 monthly/ annual inspections and maintenance on lock gates and bascule bridge.
Sports Development £50k – Kent Football Association could increase work with communities and their access to sport and facilities. It includes potential support for pitch improvements at Jackey Bakers for the 2024/25 football season.
Council Tax
The level of Council Tax and fees and charges for the year ahead will also be considered as part of the council’s annual process to deliver a balanced budget.
The proposal is for Council Tax to increase by 3%, which would result in a £7.64 increase per year for households in Council Tax band D.
Thanet council receives 12p in every £1 collected in the Council Tax paid by Thanet residents. For an average Band D property making ten monthly payments of £207, Thanet council receives around £25 per payment month. The rest goes to a number of organisations: Kent County Council (70.6%), Kent Police and Crime Commissioner (11.2%), Kent & Medway Fire and Rescue Authority (4%) and Town / Parish councils (2.4% on average).
Fees and Charges
Fees and charges were originally proposed to rise by an average of 8%, based on anticipated inflation rates when the draft budget was published. However, it is now proposed to limit increases in key areas such as parking, green waste collection and the crematorium to 5% or less. The exact figures are being finalised.
Maritime – Inflation based increases in charges for this service area should generate a further £164k.
Parking – A reduced increase of approximately 5% is proposed and council revenues are expected to increase by approximately £150k.
Garden Waste – A 5% increase, council income increase by a further £15k
Crematorium – Increases of between 0 and 5%.
Waste Bin replacement – Proposed increase in charge for replacement bins is 5%. A review is due to be held.
Planning – £260k of additional income expected to be retained following increase in nationally set planning fees
Capital projects
The Margate Town Deal, Ramsgate and Margate Levelling Up schemes and Ramsgate High Street Fund (total funds of £51m)
Housing Assistance Policy (including Disabled Facilities Grants) £3m per annum grant funded.
Vehicle & Equipment Replacement Programme – £10.960m over four years, including budget provision for electrification of refuse collection vehicles.
Property Enhancement Programme – £1.250m over 4 year programme to allow for capital enhancement to corporate property estate.
End User Computing Refresh of Devices & IT Infrastructure – £0.740m over four years
Ramsgate Port – Berth 1 Refurbishment – £300k
Royal Harbour Multi-Storey Car Park – £3m in 2025/26 for the purchase of this site (which the council currently leases),
Homelessness Accommodation (phase 2) – The total size of this capital project is £2.2m, of which £1.2m is profiled for 2024/25 (funded from borrowing).
Additional staffing
2 FTE planning posts at a cost of £124k, funded from planning income
1FTE new Private Sector Housing Projects Officer £50kpa
1 FTE new Public Health Agenda Officer within Regulatory Services, initially for a 3 year fixed term contract (£117k total)
2 posts (1 FTE) procurement £80k
Consultation
During a seven week public consultation, people were invited to give feedback on the proposed budget as part of the annual residents’ survey. Views were also sought on what residents consider most important and most in need of improvement in Thanet, and on their general satisfaction with key council services.
A total of 558 people responded to the consultation, either as part of the targeted sample survey issued to 6,000 Thanet households, or through the open survey made available on the council’s online engagement platform, Your Voice Thanet.
Clean streets, thriving towns and feeling safe remain amongst the top priorities for local people.
Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Rob Yates, said: “I’d like to start by thanking everyone who responded to our consultation. Being clear on the things that matter most to local people means we can propose a budget that targets our finances to those areas.
“It’s been an ongoing message that balancing the budget is a difficult exercise made all the more difficult due to diminishing government funding. I’m proud that thanks to the hard work of councillors and officers, our budget next year does not require us to cut important local services, but goes further and proposes additional investment in staffing and priority areas too.”
The council’s budget is agreed in January each year, with final decisions taken by the full council in early February. The approved budget is then implemented in April at the start of the new financial year.
Since 2010, the council has seen a 60% reduction in funding from central government. In real terms this represents around £8million in cuts.
