West Oxfordshire District Council's Executive has agreed a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year, despite financial pressures.

The budget strategy has been developed to handle the challenges that come with increased costs and reduced Government funding.

As part of the strategy, taxpayers can expect to see a rise in council tax of approximately 10p per week for an average band D property, and an increase in garden waste service costs.

Councillor Alaric Smith, executive member for finance, said: "Our District Council is dealing with the national financial challenge facing all of local government because of inflation, cuts to Government funding over the past ten years, and the increasing need for services.

"We are having to plan year by year due to a lack of long-term funding commitments from the Government.

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"An expected change to local government funding could also mean we lose up to 37.5 per cent of our current funding in the coming years and we have to plan for that.

"While there is a challenge, we believe that with careful financial management, we can minimise the impact of those cuts as we prepare for the future.

"Our aim will be to keep delivering the good local services that residents expect and to invest in our local area where we have the money to do so.

"We would like to thank all the residents who responded to our budget consultation.

"We have listened to all the responses, and they have helped shape the budget we've agreed."

He added: "As part of our plans, we will keep working with our local partners like the County Council, and through other regional partnerships, to combine resources to make a bigger difference for our communities.

“We are continually working on improving the services you receive and also looking at how we can be more efficient, so we make the best use of taxpayers' money.”

Although the approved budget is balanced for the fiscal year 2024/25, it highlights future risks linked with uncertainty around Government funding.

Only 10 per cent of the collected council tax is retained by the District Council, the rest is transferred to the County Council, parish councils, and police and fire services.

As per the local government funding settlement, local councils are expected to raise council tax.

There was additional funding provided by the Government, but this only gave West Oxfordshire an increase of less than 1 per cent. 

The budget proposal will be considered by the Full Council on February 28.