The 2022-2023 budget for Barnsley Council was approved last week, resulting in a 3.5% council tax increase.

The main increase in spending is for adult social care, which is responsible for 2% of the tax rise. The remaining 1.5% is for core services, such as road maintenance and bin collections.

The rise will mean residents of a property in Band H will be paying over £700 more than they would have in 2018.

Councillor Steve Houghton, Leader of Barnsley Council, said: “I hope people will understand the challenges that we face as a council, but by making significant investment in services and in local communities then we can see that people are getting real value for money”.

The net budget for day-to-day running of Barnsley is £211mil. And there is a further capital revenue budget of £56.2mil for investments.

A major part of the budget is the immediate £10mil being invested in principal towns and village centres surrounding Barnsley, as part of the £30mil kickstart scheme. This means these areas will hopefully see the same improvements that have been seen in the town centre, according to Counc Houghton.

Although an extra £2mil has been set aside for highway repairs, there has been a public response claiming this may not be enough. 

Checked the budget. They are spending £5m on council properties and £2m on a “Youth Zone” (whatever that is). So don’t hold your breath for the highways money to be spent!

— Richard Armitage (@rjarmitage) February 24, 2022

Despite the backlash Counc Houghton said: “This year’s budget is an investment budget. We’ve kept away from losing large numbers of jobs and having to cut services, hopefully those days are behind us.

“Now we’re into making Barnsley better, and even better than it’s been in previous years.”

You can see the full budget report here.