Council tax pays for local services like schools, social care services, waste collection, street lighting, leisure & culture, emergency services and much more. 

Most of the council tax goes to the Local authority, Monmouthshire County Council, to spend on local services but parts also go to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent and Community Councils.

The council also receives income from business rates, government grants, other fees and charges, all of which contribute towards the cost of providing council services.

Council tax also contributes to other costs and services including the management of council buildings, costs associated with policy, strategy and communication, the costs of running the revenue and benefits service, corporate budgets and borrowing costs.

2022/23 Budget

The council spending is split into two categories called revenue and capital.

The council’s budget plan sees an overall revenue budget for 2022/23 of £192.2 million.

The revenue budget will be financed by:

• Revenue support grant of £77,524,232
• Non-Domestic rate redistribution of £34,753,304
• Council Tax (MCC) of £62,596,197
• Council Tax (Police and crime commissioner for Gwent) of £14,190,984
• Council Tax (Community Councils) of £3,157,992

The budget aims to balance increasing costs and service demand in supporting our younger and older resident’s needs, responding to the needs of the homeless and providing further investment in our highways and transport infrastructure.

The Council’s budget plan also sees a capital budget of £31.1 million for 2022/23.

This capital expenditure will look to support:

• further investment in our infrastructure and transport network.
• management of ash tree dieback disease and associated dangerous trees.
• investment in our ICT and network estate to improve the resilience of our service delivery,
• investment to address to longer term housing needs of the homeless within the County.

Click here to see how your Council Tax is used to support the services we provide and to see where we are continuing to invest in our assets.

Medium term financial planning

The council’s four-year medium term financial plan (MTFP) is the foundation of our financial planning and outlines the financial challenges and risks we face in the medium term.

The next iteration will focus on the increasing challenges with sustaining and maintaining existing service delivery.  This will be in line with the priorities outlined in the Council’s corporate plan and will be updated, post May, to align with the priorities of the incoming administration.

It will outline the implications and impact on public services that may result from the longer term impact of the pandemic on Monmouthshire’s communities and wider economy.

These are combined with the risk and uncertainty around funding settlements projected for the medium term. Whilst indicative Welsh Government core funding increases have been provided for 2023/24 and 2024/25 these remain subject to change.