Welcome to the Maidstone Borough Council Budget Simulator

Help set our budget for 2009-10 and you could win a Marks and Spencer Christmas Hamper worth £250.

This year Maidstone Borough Council's Band D council tax is £207.72, which helps to pay for services costing more than £21 million.

Our Budget Simulator allows you to find out about different areas of Maidstone council's work and how much they cost each year. You can then decide how you would spend the money next year.

Your target is to find savings of at least £436,000, to keep our increase in Council tax to no more than 5%, which is about £10 for the year and the maximum that the Government will allow. You can make more savings to reduce the increase.

If you decide to increase spending in too many areas, you will be warned that you will have to put council tax up, beyond that allowed by government.

Please take a few minutes to complete the budget simulator. We want your views to help us draw up a budget for 2009/10.

Leave you contact details at the end and you'll be entered in the draw for a Marks and Spencer Christmas hamper.

The total Band D bill which also includes Kent County Council, Kent Police, and Kent and Medway Towns Fire and Rescue is £1401.57.