February is, usually, a marked improvement on January. Days get longer, pancakes are scoffed, and love is in the air.

In the world of local government, February also sees a flurry of activity compared to the first month of the year.

Why?

The answer is simple: Budgets. Each year, every council must pass a balanced financial plan for their upcoming municipal years in the Spring.

In Cheshire East, this activity has ramped up ahead of the crucial meeting on February 17 — so what exactly is the budget, and what's changed in this year's edition?

What is the budget?

Formally known as the medium term financial strategy (MTFS), the budget lays out the council's spending plans over a number of years.

The 2021/22 Cheshire East MTFS actually runs until May 2025 — although elections in 2023 could mean spending plans look vastly different to what they are now.

Despite running for multiple years, councils will draft a new budget every year in order to revise spending plans, alter tax levels, and adjust savings proposals as required.

By law, councils must pass a balanced MTFS for the first of its operation — CEC's latest version actually is balanced for all four years it covers, which the Labour-Independent ruling coalition says is the first time that's happened in the borough since the council was created in 2009.

However, this is not a frequent occurrence — with the neighbouring Cheshire West's budget including a £53.4 million black hole between April 2022 and March 2025, which is referred to as the "jaws of doom" graph by the Labour group on that side of the county.

What are the major changes this year?

The big one is council tax. It's set to rise by 4.99 per cent in 2021/22, and 1.99 per cent every year until 2025.

This is a decision finance portfolio holder Cllr Amanda Stott defended at cabinet, saying: "This is the first time that Cheshire East Council has produced a corporate plan which aligns with a balanced financial plan.

"We also know that government grants are unlikely to be a [source] of future funding for these services. Our spending power therefore decreases without council tax increasing. This recommendation is not made lightly.

"The uncertainty of balancing future funding has made balancing the MTFS a difficult process."

Elsewhere, there's a £16 million investment in adult social care over four years, a projected £500,000 saving in staff working from home more often, another £500,000 cut in mental health services, and £67,000 worth of cuts to urban grass cutting, to name a few plans.

The full document is 279 pages long, and features cuts in all manner of departments.

All in all, CEC is expecting to spend £311.1 million in 2021/22, a figure which rises by £15 million by 2024-25.

How close is it to being passed?

There is only one hurdle to clear for this year's MTFS — but it's the biggest one.

It has already gone through public consultation, resulting in a raft of changes — and has passed through councillor scrutiny, after a row about the amount of time committees were given to see the latest draft.

Conservative group leader Janet Clowes said last week: "Unfortunately I'm unable to comment in detail because along with all elected Councillors who are not members of Cabinet, we were denied access to the finalised budget until it was published last night — even cross-party scrutiny committees have only had the pre-consultation version to examine.

"In that version, CEC stated that they could provide a balanced budget with a Council Tax rise of 1.99 per cent but as soon as Government announced in the Local Government settlement that there was an option for a 3 per cent adult social care precept over the next two years, CEC has opted to raise Council Tax by the whole amount, immediately, in the midst of the pandemic."

Earlier this week (February 2), it got final sign-off from the ruling Labour-Independent coalition, which means the budget will now be presented to the full council for final approval.

Full council meetings feature all 82 representatives, and can often be heated, bitter, and lengthy.

The last meeting of its kind took place in December, and saw a farce in attempting to pass a motion on introducing the principle of 20mph speed limits on residential roads.

What makes the budget meeting more uncertain in CEC is that neither of the parties in power are the biggest groups and only have 41 members of a 82.

That means the coalition is reliant on other groups approving the budget as well, giving them more power when it comes to tabling amendments.

Whatever happens on February 17 will prove pivotal to how the borough recovers from the effects of Covid-19.