Windsor and Maidenhead councillors are asking constituents for their say on RBWM’s budget for 2025/26, which proposes a 25 per cent rise in council tax.

The hike is above the government-mandated maximum of 4.99 per cent, and the council will have to seek permission from the secretary of state to go above this.

The rise is proposed to fund additional spending of £36 million over the 2024/25 budget.

The BBC reported the news with the headline ‘Cash-strapped council faces ‘slash and burn’ cuts, and ‘Everything’s collapsing but they want more money’. 

In the latter story a BBC journalist spoke to residents in Windsor town centre, while closer to home the Maidenhead Advertiser went with ‘Huge hike in council tax among big plans for next year’s budget’.

RBWM sets out its position on its website, and its draft budget plan states; “Another specific challenge is that the council has high levels of debt, relative to the size of the overall budget. The council’s net revenue budget in 2025/26 is £127.4m, with debt now standing at over £230m. The cost of servicing this debt is more than £18.6m a year, the equivalent of almost 15% of council spend.”

The public are now invited to have their say on the 2025/26 budget.

For more information, or to have you say as part of the consultation visit: rbwmtogether.rbwm.gov.uk/2025-26-budget-consultation

The consultation will run until Thursday 30 January 2025. The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel will review feedback with the draft budget proposals in January 2025. It will then be reported with the final budget for consideration by the council’s Cabinet on Wednesday 26 February and will be voted on by all councillors at Full Council on Wednesday 5 March.