Derbyshire taxpayers are set to have to pay around £30 more to the county council this year.

In papers released on January 19, Derbyshire County Council revealed that its portion of your council tax bill is set to increase by three per cent.

This is higher than last year's 2.5 per cent, but is lower than the maximum five per cent allowed without a public vote.

It results in residents in Band A homes having to pay £27.66 more to the county council.

For Band B homeowners this is £32.27 extra, Band C homeowners £36.88 more and Band D homeowners an additional £41.49. Most residents in the county are in Band A and Band B properties. Further increases in your overall council tax bill are expected, from the other county's other local authorities.

This includes the police and fire services, your district or borough council, and for some areas your town or parish council – with the lion's share going to the county authority.

The county council's leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, says his administration has aimed to keep its tax demands "as low as realistically possible".

Cllr Lewis says: "We know Derbyshire households continue to face pressures like never before and we do not want to add unnecessary extra financial burden to residents."

However, this is balanced against the need of the county council to ensure it can continue to fund public services, including vital support for Derbyshire's vulnerable children and adults.

It is support for adults and children's services which are straining the county the most, with its leading officials laying out that Government grants just do not cover the rising costs of increasing demands for care.

Cllr Lewis says: "Despite extra funding, including from the proposed council tax rise, we know our adult and children's social care budgets will continue to fall short in future years due to demand and increased costs, and we must still find major savings which will mean some difficult decisions in the coming years."

Cllr Simon Spencer, deputy leader, said: "It's clear to see that challenges lie ahead but residents can rest assured that we are doing all we can to ensure vital services continue as well as continuing to invest in our county."

A report from the council – to be discussed on Monday, January 24 – details that the council must make a further £8 million in cuts over the next year and must make combined cutbacks totalling £67 million by the financial year 2026/27.

This total of required cutbacks amounts to more than 10 per cent of the council's entire spending budget for the coming year – which amounts to £618.5 million.

Of this budget, £5 million will be spent on increasing support for the over 65 population with the number of disabled adults, including early onset dementia, and need for complex support, increasing.

More than £6 million will be spent to help meet the needs of children in care, with the number of vulnerable kids, and complexity of their required support, also increasing.

The number of children with special educational needs requiring home-to-school transport is also increasing, with £3 million aimed at meeting that demand.

Court battles part-funded by the council in children in care cases is also rising, with £1.1 million needed this year to help meet barrister fees, paid for on top of the authority's own legal team.

A further £360,000 will be spent on supporting and assessing parents and responsible adults who have chosen to educate their children from home, which is said to have seen a large rise over the past year.

A council aim to plant one million trees in Derbyshire over the next decade will be supported by £113,000 over the next year. A further £270,000 will be spent on cutting down ash trees hit by ash dieback and replanting new ones on council land.

To counter flooding across the county, £1.1 million will be spent on improving drainage on Derbyshire's roads.

The council's leading officials say that there is an urgent need to find ways to make these cutbacks or face further financial peril in a situation which is set to continue past 2026.

Of the required cuts required to set a legally balanced budget, only 39 per cent of funds have been earmarked, with delays to savings targets meaning broader and potentially harsher cuts are required in subsequent years.

As it stands, the authority is set to make cuts of nearly £20 million in 2026 and it has been warned that a delay of a month in making a "saving" amounts to £1 million more being required.

Officers say there is "uncertainty" over the authority's finances over the next few years but they are sufficient enough as it stands to avoid raising a formal alarm with Government and a legal freeze on spending.

The report makes clear that the council has managed to hit a balanced budget this year, despite the immense pressures of the pandemic on its finances, as a result of Government grant funding, which may come to an end.

Without this funding, the council would have faced a financial black hole of around £10 million, which would have seen money pulled from its general reserves – its rainy day fund.

A total of £4 million was pulled from this fund to hit a balanced budget this year.

Council officials warn that this reserve fund could sit at between £10 million and £39 million over the next few years.

It says this is fully dependent on two things: The council making its savings targets on time and in full – or face reserves dropping to £5 million – and the Government announcing more council funding to support children's and adult's social care, which could see reserves hit £51 million.

Ways in which the authority intends to make this year's cuts include:

Reviewing contracted or commissioned adult social care staff – £100,000

Continue to offload libraries to voluntary groups and review staffing and opening hours – £156,000

Find ways to reduce cost of waste disposal – £100,000

Broader aims rely on the council changing how and where it offers support for older people, in a bid to promote "greater independence" – amounting to more than £9 million in savings (£4.2 million of which is from last year).

The authority says it has ruled out any further cutbacks to children's services in this or later years as a result of growing pressures.

A council budget consultation, with 2,550 respondents found that the least popular way of sustaining finances was the increasing of council tax, with aims to save money or back schemes that would generate money being preferred.

Residents felt highways, waste and recycling, and environmental policy were the most important and that museums, heritage and arts, grants to voluntary groups and adult community education were the least important.

This is how the council's proposed precept increase plays out by tax band. This will increase further due to other authorities deciding on their own precepts.

Band A – £27.66 increase, £949.71

Band B – £32.27 increase, £1,107.99

Band C – £36.88 increase, £1,266.28

Band D – £41.49 increase, £1,424.56

Band E – £50.71 increase, £1,741.13

Band F – £59.93 increase, £2,057.70

Band G – £69.15 increase, £2,374.27

Band H – £82.98 increase, £2,849.12