In April, residents in Windsor and Maidenhead face a nearly 9% council tax hike despite the local authority admitting to losing £30 million to accounting errors.
The council, which has accumulated over £230 million in debt, initially proposed a 25% tax increase to address a £33 million budget shortfall.
After pushback from residents and campaign groups, the Government capped the rise at 8.99%.
However, the council’s spending data recently uncovered £30 million in discrepancies dating back to 2021.
Council officials blamed staffing shortages and “human mistakes” within the finance department for the errors, the Slough and South Bucks Observer reported.
According to officials, funds that should have been covered by the council’s day-to-day budget were instead logged as capital spending. This meant the council unknowingly overspent on daily operations and had less reserve than it believed.
It remains unclear who was responsible for overseeing the accounts, and no definitive explanation has been given for how such a large sum went unnoticed.
The council’s handling of its finances has sparked criticism from residents and politicians.
Windsor MP Jack Rankin has called for the Liberal Democrat-led administration to take responsibility, questioning their ability to manage public funds.
A council spokesperson has defended the tax rise, stating: “The Government has responded to our request to increase council tax, to help set our budget for next year, by granting us permission to raise council tax by 8.99% from April 2025 – an increase of 4% above the 4.99% cap.”
The spokesperson added that the council had initially sought a significantly higher increase of 20% above the cap, arguing that years of council tax reductions had made this rise necessary.
They acknowledged that the approved increase was far lower than requested but claimed it recognised the borough’s historically low tax levels and their impact on financial sustainability.
The council is also awaiting a decision on a Government loan, which must be repaid over several years. The statement continued: “We will consider what this means for us while we also await an outcome on the other part of our Government support request, a loan which will need to be paid back over several years and which we will need to adjust given our council tax increase is less than we needed.”
