Our budget for 2008/09
For a broad outline of our income and spending for the current year, please see how we spend our budget for 2008/09.
Council tax rise kept low
For 2008/09, the Council has approved a 3.9% council tax increase and a total budget of just over £314 million.
We are in the third year of our 4-year plan to drive down council tax rises. This increase is 0.4% less than last year.
Our funding from central Government
Council tax makes up 70% of our budget. The remaining 30% comes from central Government.
Nationally, the Government has continued to increase investment in local authorities. Locally, our grant increased by 3%, giving us £2.8 million more towards services than last year, £94 million in total.
Whilst we welcome the extra funding, like other county councils in the South East we still receive considerably less than the average 5.8% increase given to county councils outside of this region.
East Sussex has a history of poor funding from the Government. Although our financial position is better than previous years it remains difficult, especially considering much of our increase in funding will be eaten up by the predicted rise in inflation.
Looking forward
We pride ourselves on making good use of our limited resources and have made savings of £90 million over the last five years. This year, to keep council tax as low as possible, we will be making £6.4 million of savings.
But there is still a long way to go. We have one of the highest percentages (and rising) of older people in the UK, many of whom will need care services.
We believe the Government needs to recognise the spiralling costs of our ageing population so that we can keep increasing our investment in essential areas such as Adult Social Care, without increasing council tax.
East Sussex has a higher proportion of very elderly people than other parts of the country. And this number is set to rise by 28% within 20 years.
We will keep asking the Government for a better deal for East Sussex.
Contact us
To find out more about how the County Council spends your money, please contact us:
Email: finance@eastsussex.gov.uk
Or, write to:
The Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Resources
East Sussex County Council
County Hall
St Anne’s Crescent
Lewes BN7 1SF.
