Haxby Town Council – Budget and Precept 2026-27
Overview
Haxby Town Council is responsible for a range of facilities, services and community support across Haxby. Most budget item increases will be kept below 5% on average. However, the council is proposing an exceptional budget in 2025/2026 to enable funding of two special projects: replacing the pavilion on Ethel Ward to secure a building for the long-term and addressing ageing outdoor play equipment on Ethel Ward and Mancroft. Despite a significant overall budget increase, we are unable to fund the badly needed repairs to the netball courts on Ethel Ward.
Income
Most of the Council’s income comes from the ‘precept’ that is charged to each household and varies by council tax band. (It is one element in the wider council tax that also funds City of York Council and the police and fire authority.) To enable the Pavilion and Play Equipment projects, we have increased the HTC precept budget which equates to an increase from £55.95 (per year) to £67.14 (per year) for a Band D council tax household or an increase of just under £1 per month.
City of York Council also pays towards services provided by HTC that they might otherwise provide, e.g. grass-cutting, cleaning bus shelters, etc (the 2025/2026 budget is £18,000).
The Football and Netball clubs contribute towards, but do not cover, the cost of Ethel Ward sport facilities, The allotment holders also pay annual fees. The fairground and Carnival stall holders pay to use Ethel Ward. We have small interest payments from our bank deposits. These payments are budgeted to total just over 3% of our income (excluding VAT).
The overall budget proposed for 1st April 2026 to 31st March 2027 totals £267,078.27.
Expenditure
Running the Town Council
The budget covers the employment costs of the 4 part-time staff (excluding the part-time Cemetery Clerk funded by the Cemetery). They have statutory duties and manage all the Town Council facilities and services on a day-to-day basis. The budget also covers the HTC office and equipment costs, hiring Oaken Grove for council meetings, staff training, etc.
We are budgeting £125, 252 for 2026-2027. Excluding legal costs, which were exceptionally high in 2025, this represents a 3.54% increase.
Maintaining Facilities Managed by Haxby Town Council
The Council maintains 45 allotments on Station Road, Ethel Ward and Mancroft play areas, Ethel Ward Pavillion, Wyre Pond, Memorial Hall clock, some of Haxby’s bus shelters and bins, the Village green and hitching posts, and notice boards.
The budget for 2026-27 totals £37,625. This is a significant decrease on this year, when the Pavilion required a lot of maintenance work and we repaired, cleaned and extended the white Village hitching rails.
Grants to Organisations and Events that Benefit Haxby Residents
In our 2026/2027 budget, we will continue our support for these groups that benefit Haxby residents:
These grants total £27,400, around 11% of our budgeted expenditure (excluding VAT).
Projects
Haxby Town Council wishes to redevelop the pavilion as it has seen better days. We are hopeful of substantial financial support from the Football Foundation, and fundraising by the sports clubs is underway, however we would have to provide some funding too. The likely amount for the town council’s contribution is £100,000. We do not have this, so are considering applying for a £100,000 loan, repayable over 10 years, from the Public Works Loans Board (a government body which lends money for capital projects to local authorities). The annual repayment would be approximately £13,500.
Outside play equipment, like swings, roundabouts etc. must be safe for children’s play and is very expensive. We ar7e budgeting £20,000 to purchase a new piece of play equipment for Ethal Ward to replace one that had become unsafe and was removed several years ago. The remainder, around £5,000, will start to build a fund for the replacement of other play equipment.
We have excluded any Project budget for:
Reserves
Local authorities are advised to retain 3-6 months expenditure in reserves in case of unexpected payments. This would now be £67,000 to £120,000. Additional reserves save for specific future expenditure. HTC reserves are expected to be £60,000 at the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.
Our outside play equipment would probably cost around £400,000 to replace in full. We’d hope each item would last 20 years with maintenance, which means we should be budgeting £20,000 each year to replace play equipment when it is no longer safe.
We are aiming to add a notional £3,528 into reserves in the coming financial year.
Haxby and Wigginton Cemetery
The cemetery is not run by Haxby Town Council. It is administered by the Cemetery Committee, comprising four councillors each from Haxby Town Council and Wigginton Parish Council. Its maintenance costs are met from burial fees. There are budget income and expenditure headings in the HTC budget because HTC provides administrative support that is rechanged to the Cemetery. The budget entries balance out at £0.
Published: 02/02/2026 Published by: Haxby Town Council
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