Council to decide on budget with £3M savings. Public feedback mixed on tax, services, & cuts.
Councilors might add more ideas later. The meeting happens at Halifax Town Hall. In total, 728 people took an online survey. It ran from January 14 to February 3. Members aimed to save £3 million. This would balance the 2025-26 budget books. People made 1,409 individual comments.
The survey had seven sections. Each part covered a council department. Responses came from people and local groups. Not everyone commented on every issue. Raising Council Tax got a lot of feedback. Just over 25% of comments mentioned it. Half of the participants discussed this topic.
Most people, 61%, opposed the proposal. The Cabinet knows the government expects this. A third, 38%, supported the tax increase. Opponents mentioned service quality issues. Wasteful spending was also a concern.
The cost of living was another problem. Some would accept a rise for better services. People generally supported savings for adult services. They also liked cuts to the CEO’s office budget. Reactions were mixed about cuts to children’s services.
Just over half backed youth work changes. Under half worried about support for families. These families have disabled children. Respondents mostly supported public services cuts. This included higher fees for waste collection.
They opposed higher parking charges. Two-thirds disagreed with this idea. People liked budget plans for regeneration cuts. They did not like the highway maintenance reduction. The plan used funds from 2026-27. Over half opposed this change.
Councilors can find all details in their document pack. You can also read it online. Check the council’s meeting calendar for the date. It is available on their website. You can also see advice from scrutiny councilors there.