Budget 2018-2019
Cambourne Parish Council has to consider the budget for the next financial year and submit it to the District Council at the end of January each year. This is a challenging process as Cambourne continues to grow and the Council always strives to maintain or improve the services it provides to the residents of Cambourne.
In 2014-2015 the Parish Council considered that it had reached the point when the growth in dwellings offset the inflationary pressures and additional costs to meet the needs of the Community and could maintain the Band D rate with no increment. This was when the Council was in receipt of large sums of s106 monies and payments from the developers to maintain their areas.
The s106 monies have now been or will be spent over the next year and large areas of land have been transferred from the Developers to the Parish Council, so their payments are reducing and the growth in house numbers is starting to slow as the existing planned Cambourne nears completion. This means that the time when growth in houses covers the inflationary pressures is almost over.
As such, the Council has to consider carefully how it spends money on new projects like Pedestrian Crossings and the Skate Park replacement as it has an impact on the Parish precept. The provision of the Crossing equates to £6.38/year and the Skate Park £6.64/year totaling £13.02/year.
When considering the budget for 2018 to 2019, it became apparent that if the Council wanted to maintain the current service level and budget for a Pedestrian crossing and replacement of part of the Skate Park, the Council would have to look at increasing the current Band D.
After reviewing the ongoing costs of maintaining the new and existing services, budgeting for the Pedestrian Crossing and replacing part of the Skate Park, it has had to increase the Band D point by 6.74% to £130.17; an increase of £8.22 per year (68.5p/month). Therefore, Cambourne Parish Council will be levying a precept of £490,000.00 on South Cambs District Council.
Setting the Band D rate at £130.17 will allow the Council to continue to maintain or improve the level of service it provides for the Community. The Council will be working with the County Council to provide further Pedestrian Crossings in Cambourne.
