Budget Information for 2023/24

Dursley Town Councillors have set the Dursley Town Council budget for the year ahead at our meeting on 24th January 2023.

Councillors agreed to limit the increase in our share of the Council Tax bill to 2% for the year 2023/24 with the Councillors bearing in mind the financial pressures facing all residents as a result of the current cost of living crisis. That decision means, an average Band D council taxpayer will now pay £216.66 a year, an increase of only £4.27 per year or an extra 8p a week.

The Mayor, Councillor Symon Ackroyd said, "The Town Council has had to agree a very modest increase to the budget to allow for the rising inflation rate and an expected large increase in our energy costs, due to our existing deals expire in May 2023. The budget set will ensure we can continue to provide vital services for our community in the year ahead. While most of our income comes from council tax, we are always actively seeking external funding for projects".

We will continue to manage, maintain and improve facilities at the Kingshill Cemetery and Allotments, St Mark's burial ground, the War Memorial Recreation Ground, Kingshill Play Park, Highfields Play Area and Long Street Car Park.

We are planning to use existing reserve funds to improve the facilities at the War Memorial Recreation Ground Pavilion, more details will become available soon.

A new youth service contract will commence in September 2023, currently we provide 4 youth sessions per week at The Vibe Youth Centre and we aim to maintain this provision for the next three years.

We will continue to support local volunteer run groups and organisations including Dursley in Bloom, Dursley Welcomes Walkers and Festive Dursley.

We will support a number of local tourism projects including the continuation of the successful Visitor Information Centre based at the Library.

In addition to the annual Xmas Light Switch On and Summer Festival events, the Town Council will support a Coronation event for King Charles III at the beginning of May 2023.

We will also continue to run our grants programme with an increased budget of £42,000 in 2023/24. In 2022/23 we provided awards totalling £39,700 to local groups/organisations.