Understanding the council’s budget

Local councils need an income to provide services for local people. The money comes from Council Tax and business rates as well as the fees charged for certain services. A small amount also comes from grants issued by central government.

Each year we set a budget to decide how much money to spend on delivering services for Thanet's residents and businesses. This includes recommendations about financing those services and spending on new proposals. The budget is considered by Full Council in February each year, before being implemented in April.

We have drafted a budget proposal for the next financial year (April 2025 to March 2026). This includes an additional £1.1m of investment in key areas, to reflect things that residents, who responded to the annual survey, indicated matter most to them. The additional investment is proposed to improve public spaces; it includes graffiti clearance, street cleaning and refurbishment of local shelters.

In October 2024, we invited 6,000 local people to tell us what matters most to them, in our annual Residents' Survey. The budget proposal considers the feedback that we received. This new survey is an opportunity for local people to review the proposed budget and share their views on ongoing investment and one-off spending. 

Anyone who is unable to complete the online survey can download and print the questions, to be filled in and returned to the council offices. Alternative formats of the questions can be requested by calling the council’s Customer Services team on 01843 577000.