Band D council tax payers in Woking are expected to pay more than £2,500 a year for the first time after the latest round of rate rises.

Last year, the average bill for homeowners was £2,482 but rises by Surrey County Council, Surrey Police, and Woking Borough Council will push that to £2,597.

Council tax in Surrey is not straightforward and is usually split with the county taking about 75 per cent, the police a further 14 per cent with the remaining 10 per cent going to the borough.

Surrey County Council voted to increase its share by 4.99 per cent, Surrey Police by 4.4 per cent and Woking Borough Council’s executive is recommending a 2.99 per cent hike.

It will, the borough said, allow it for the first time in a decade, create a balanced, business-as-usual budget.

The council stresses this only covers normal spending – and not the servicing of its near £2.2billion debt - which it said will still require massive government assistance to recover from.

Speaking at the February meeting of Woking Borough Council’s executive committee was Councillor Dale Roberts, portfolio holder for finance.

He said: “Members will be very familiar with this journey. Three years ago we were issuing grave warnings. Two years ago we were asked to find £8million of savings from a £22m core budget, actually £12m to begin with.

“Last year we produced a legal budget. This year we are presenting a legal and balanced budget. Somebody in Overview and scrutiny described that as a minor miracle.”

Overall Woking Borough Council expects its core spending to remain around the £21m.

Cllr Roberts added :”For the first time in many years, possibly, a very long time, a decade or more, we are able to present what is substantially a balanced business-as-usual budget.”

What isn’t covered is the multibillion debt amassed on the back of a failed regeneration policy that effectively bankrupted the borough and forced it to cut millions of pounds in services, saw its workforce slashed by about a fifth, and closed popular facilities.

To correctly account for the council’s debt would require a budget of around £155.8m to cover the interest and debt repayment.

A legal budget could not be set with these levels of costs meaning the council has had to plead with the Government for Exceptional Financial Support -expected to be around £150.2m for 2026/27.

Cllr Roberts added: “Exceptional financial support, of course, is still required overall and remains subject to government confirmation but it is now focused on historic financial pressures rather than funding everyday services.”

As of March 31, 2025, the deferred backlog of owed interest payments included in previous support packages totalled £406.5 million.

In 2025/26, a further £96.5m is expected to be deferred and is projected to reach about £595.2 million by the end of 2026/27.

The formal budget is expected to be passed by full council on March 2 once the outcome of its exceptional financial support bid is known.

Cllr Liam Lyons added that the journey had, at times, meant taking uncomfortable decisions.

He said: “But we’ve done it to get to this point so that we can actually now look at residents in the eye and say that we’re not wasting money.”