Cheshire East Council has agreed a budget at a meeting of full council on Tuesday, 27th February and approved a 4.99% increase in Council Tax, the maximum amount currently allowed from April 2024.
The budget outlines £30m in savings across council services to help ensure financial sustainability. For example, it will look at ways to generate income from assets such as libraries, close the three household waste sites at Bollington, Middlewich and Poynton, review the costs to its garden waste scheme and reduce council office accommodation.
Councillor Sam Corcoran, leader of Cheshire East Council, said: "I would like to thank everyone who has helped us to set this budget under extremely difficult national circumstances.
"This budget is one of the most challenging we have had in the history of the council. We have focused the council's resources and funding on services that are in the most demand – while looking at where investment will make the biggest difference to the lives of people across Cheshire East.
"The council has a year of significant transformation ahead of it. Now that the budget is set, it must continue in this journey to develop financially sustainable services for those who need them the most.
"We must also ensure that projects that come forward are considered in terms of their 'whole life' and really challenge what its impacts will be for the many people in the borough. This budget does not mean we will be complacent as there are still many challenges in the year ahead."
Councillor Michael Gorman, newly appointed deputy leader at Cheshire East Council, said: "Over the next year we will be ensuring the council adapts to what it needs to be to deliver the right services to residents.
"Cheshire East Council has been better placed than most as over the last few years we have a good record of responsible financial management, with fully balanced four-year budgets. However, as a council we are in a worse place than most in that we have low reserves.
"We have already taken action to try and manage our budget and have been working with government to find solutions to minimise the impact of spending on HS2 and high needs education. Hopefully our plans for the year ahead will see us continue to manage our finances in a fair and prudent way that meets the demand of those most in need.
"We will be looking at everything right across the council over the coming year, whether it is restricting how the services operate, accelerating digital technology or seeing what projects can be deferred until another point in time."
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It's surely worth a try if it results in cutting waste and bureaucracy and should be cost neutral.