A Council Tax freeze is on the cards for St Albans households next year, despite a predicted £120,000 overspend. 

At a meeting of St Albans District Council’s cabinet last week it was agreed to recommend a budget that would fix its 11.5 per cent element of overall council tax.

To meet the target, the cabinet proposed savings amounting to £900,000.

The budget is based on protecting frontline services and delivering priority projects, such as a new leisure facility in Coltandswick in 2015. It takes into account likely inflation, council priorities and further reductions in funding from central government.

An overspend of £120,000 is forecast due to an overspend in planning due to employing extra staff resources to deal with the volume of applications, a reduction in recycling income as prices for materials have fallen, and the markets income budget being over optimistic. 

At the meeting in the Civic Offices on Thursday, councillors discussed the increased staff turnover in planning. Since April 16 posts have been filled and there are currently eight vacancies. There have been difficulties attracting suitable candidates for the more technical roles which has resulted in the delays, and a number of posts have only been filled after a second advert placed. 

Resources portfolio holder Alec Campbell said: "The approach to budgeting differs this year as more use is being made of data on the demographic and other trends that drive service requirements. 

"One result is that additional funding is proposed for planning and parking to improve these important services. Officers are working to deliver overall savings of £0.9m next year through contract negotiations with suppliers and a review of the Council’s other costs."

This will be the seventh year in a row that the district council’s element of council tax is frozen if the budget is approved when the council meets on December 3.