Senior Broxtowe councillors agree to 2.94 per cent council tax rise

The Broxtowe Alliance-led borough council will also be drawing hundreds of thousands of pounds from its general fund reserves pot, which consists of rainy-day cash set aside to help fund day-to-day services.

Coun Greg Marshall (Brox All), deputy leader and portfolio holder for resources, said the authority would be increasing council tax by 2.94 per cent.

This means the average band D home owner will see their bill rise from £192.93 to £198.61 from April, subject to final approval of the budget.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting on February 3, Coun Marshall said: “Yet again we are not cutting jobs or services.

“The headlines are we intend to draw £760,000 from general reserves in helping us maintain that balanced budget, which is an excellent achievement from the team given the original forecast deficit of £1.2m taken from general reserves.

“And alongside that £439,000 from earmarked reserves.

“That is done whilst maintaining council tax increase at 2.94 per cent, which is a freeze on the level of last year’s increase.”

Council documents show the authority will be withdrawing £1.343m from general fund reserves in the current financial year of 2025-26, before taking a further £760,000 in the next financial year which begins in April.

This means the amount of money in the general fund reserve is expected to reduce from £5.557m on April 1, 2025, to £4.215m at March 31, 2026.

A further withdrawal from balances in 2026-27 will see reserve cash fall even further to £3.454m by March 31, 2027.

Coun Milan Radulovic (Brox All), council leader, said the authority had been hit by substantial costs of £450,000 relating to increased employer National Insurance contributions.

However the council says financial pressures on its budget have been partially offset by reduced employer pension contributions from 19 per cent down to 16.8 per cent.