Only four days left to have your say on Corby Town Council Budget consultation

Corby Town Council is asking residents to participate in setting the spending priorities for the town into 2023-4 and beyond.

The consultation is running until midnight on January 8. A decision regarding the budget and precept will be made at their full council meeting on January 17.

The precept for Corby - the proportion of your council tax that is paid to the town council - is currently £19.63 for a Band D property which, according to the council, is one of the lowest in the county.

In 2023/24 the council is consulting on either an 8p a week increase for a Band D property which would generate £385,000, a 10p a week increase which would generate an income of £400,000, or a 15p per week increase which would generate an income of £445,000.

According to the council, depending on the level of increase, this will pay for the following:

Corby’s first ever Pride event The King’s Coronation event The increased cost of inflation on accommodation and other external costs Ward funding for the four areas of Corby The formation of a youth council Increased staffing and insurance costs to deliver the existing programme of events as they build in the town Building up reserves so they have a good platform to take the town of Corby into the future where they may own assets or operate services

In the financial year 2021/22 the council spent £158,371.95 on:

Staffing costs Training Professional and election costs Office set-up and IT Accommodation PR and marketing Members costs Civic events Grants

This also included £12,500 in community grants which went to:

Corby Cricket Club £2,000 Wombles £1,000 Integrated cancer therapies £500 Community First responders £1,500 Talking Newspapers for the Blind £800 Community in Sheds £1,700 Hearts of Young People £1,000 Corby Pole Fair £2,000 Corby Highland Dancing Association £2,000

They also applied and distributed £34,000 of central government funding to enhance the free town centre Christmas events. That’s £46,500 directly into Corby.

Cllr Simon Reilly, lead for finance at the town council, said: “In an ideal world you’d like not to put anything on it but we can’t.

"We’ve started off at a lower baseline than most town councils and we just want to do it gradually.

"We don’t want to be putting a silly precept amount on that people can’t afford.

“We do want to offer a few more events and activities and we want to try and grow the town council over the next three to five years.

"We don’t want to be seen to be moving too quickly.

"I think we’re moving at a steady rate at the minute.

"I think the people of Corby had good value from the town council last year, you can see that from the engagement and people getting involved in the community activities and the amount of people applying for grants - and we want that to continue but we want to continue at a rate that’s affordable to everybody.”

To have your say, there is an online form that can be filled out. On the form people are asked what they think the council should prioritise and how much extra per week would they be willing to spend for the council to focus on those priorities.