At a meeting of Mid Devon District Council’s full council, Members set the budget for the financial year 2025/26 including the District Precept for Council Tax.

Next financial year the average Band D property will pay £239.12 to Mid Devon District Council, an increase of 2.99%, which is equivalent to 13 pence per week.

The amount of money the district council receives is one small element of a household’s Council Tax Bill, with the other elements comprised of precepts from Devon County Council, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner and the household’s local Town or Parish Council if applicable.

This means an average Band D household’s total Council Tax Bill will rise from £2,404.17 in 2024/25 to £2,521.17 in 2025/26, just under 4.9%.

Leader of the Council, Luke Taylor, said:

"Once again the task of setting a balanced budget has been a difficult task, made even more challenging with the extra pressures faced by district councils, with a reduction in rural grants and a significant increase in National Insurance contributions. Despite these challenges we have enhanced our commitment to developing our workforce with an expansion of our Apprenticeship Scheme and our environmental enforcement team and created a balanced budget that we believe will still allow us to maintain a high level of service delivery across the district and to continue our investment in housing provision.”

The Council has a duty to provide statutory services such as waste collection, recycling and street cleansing, homelessness provision and planning. It is also committed to providing non statutory services for our residents which include investment in leisure, the provision of parks and open spaces and community development grants.

The Council Tax collected is used, in part, to fund these services and details of the allocated 2025/26 budget are detailed in the table below.

Mid Devon	2024/25 £m	2025/26 £m	Movement %
Total gross budget	58.668	61.576	5.0%
Housing	29.880	30.169	1.0%
Transport	0.991	0.922	-7.0%
Environment	9.425	10.089	7.0%
Planning	4.973	5.093	2.4%
Recreation and tourism	6.798	7.011	3.1%
Other*	4.118	5.590	35.7%
Parish precepts**	2.483	2.702	8.8%

*This movement reflects the movement in reserves swinging from a net draw of £841k in 2024/25 to a net contribution of £462k in 2025/26.

**The percentage increase reflects the overall increase in the quantum of the Precept requested by Parishes and does not reflect the movement in individual Parish Band D charges.

A number of these gross service costs are also paid, in part, from fee income in areas such as Leisure, Waste, Car Parking and Planning. The net cost of running the Council is funded by the income below streams:

Income stream	2024/25 £m	2025/26 £m	Movement %
Total Income Budget	58.668	61.576	5.0%
Housing rents/charges	28.926	29.446	1.8%
Government funding	1.732	1.593	-8.0%
Business rates*	4.565	5.061	10.9%
Council tax*	6.968	7.349	5.5%
Other**	16.477	18.127	10.0%

*The increase in Business Rates reflects the growth in the taxbase and the movement in the collection rate. Similarly, the increase in Council Tax also reflects the movement in collection rate and growth in the taxbase, along with the increase in the Band D charge.

**This increase includes growth in our leisure membership income and waste recycling income

Full details about Council Tax charges for 2025/26 as well as previous years can be found here.