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º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø Borough Council is facing significant financial challenges. Over the years we have sought to protect the services we provide by becoming ever more efficient and generating new sources of income, and so we have maintained services, or service levels that other councils reduced some time ago. This is now under threat.

For every £10 of Council Tax we collect, we receive just £1 with the rest going to West Sussex County Council and the Police and the Police & Crime Commissioner. When combining Council Tax with Government grant, º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø Borough Council receives less now, in cash terms, than we did in 2011 to 2012. The funding provided by the Government has in real terms reduced by more than one third since 2016 to 2017, which is a worse outcome than for the significant majority of other councils. The decisions we have made over these years have meant that the Council has been able to absorb these funding reductions.

What has changed is the costs related to homelessness and temporary accommodation. The council now spends £2 of every £3 it collects in Council Tax to provide temporary accommodation. The total we spend has increased twenty fold in just five years and is likely to increase further. These are º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø people with no other option for housing and we are legally obliged to help them.

Every year we are required by law to set a budget, which shows how we plan to pay for our services for the following year and beyond to understand and prepare for the financial challenges we will face in future years.

This year the council faces some really tough choices to achieve a balanced budget. Your feedback and views will inform the council’s budget and help the council to keep delivering for local people and for º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø.

Therefore we would like to hear from you about your priorities before setting our budget. You can have your say by completing our online survey