Cheshire East Council voted to accept the 2011-2012 budget designed to deal with a 25% cut in Government grants over four years.
The budget was passed by a large majority at a meeting of the full council at Macclesfield on Thursday, 24th February, despite criticism that there was a lack of detail and scrutiny.
The planned gross Council expenditure (funding available to services, less charges and fees for services) for 2011/12 is £597m, which is £4.8m lower than the previous year's figure of £601.8m.
The Council overwhelmingly backed plans to freeze basic Council Tax, securing extra Government funding of £4.4m, which is equivalent to increasing Council Tax by 2.5%.
Other proposals in the Budget Report include a £10.1m investment in Adult Services, an extra £100,000 for Children's Services and raising about £2.1m by increasing taxes on second and long-term empty homes in Cheshire East.
Savings of £3.9m will be made from the Places Budget, including transforming the way Council transport is run and improving refuse collection efficiency, and savings of £11.1m are planned from efficiency measures including proposed changes to conditions of employment, reducing agency staff costs, targeting procurement savings, greater management efficiency, improving use of the Council's estate and increasing energy efficiency.
Additionally, no Supplementary Business Rates will be levied in 2011/12.
The Liberal Democrat members of council abstained from voting with Councillor Hough claiming that despite being consistently assured that the budget process would be more robust there has been a complete lack of detail for non cabinet members. He criticised the lack of scrutiny over the budget and said there should be a "comprehensive scrutiny process".
Labour Councillor Flude said "The devil is in the detail and there is no detail, very little analysis has been done."
Independent Councillor Moran added "It lacks details in every direction. There are broad headings, big numbers and no detail. How can we be expected to support a budget with broad headings and no detail. We don't know what the consequences will be on the individual people we represent."
Liberal Democrat Councillor Nielson claimed "Nobody has any basic figures. They have not been made available. We have received nothing, the basic information is not there."
Conservative Councillor Brickhill added to the criticism by saying "I believe the budget is a recipe for disaster and I urge you to vote against it."
Concerns were also raised over whether the level of reserves is adequate.
Councillor Hough said "My concern is the level of reserves. Any further redundancies are going to have a very severe impact on the services of this council. The budget will completely fail because we don't have the borrowing capacity to fund further redundancies."
Conservative Councillor Westwood said "I have some concerns over the low level of reserves. Last year perhaps we got it wrong and didn't address the pressures on our Adult Budget. There are many areas where savings have not been specified and those savings need to be made. It is terribly important the budget is monitored carefully."
Cheshire East Council Leader Wesley Fitzgerald responded by saying "Some speakers seem to be in another world in terms of realising the desperate situation the Labour government left us in.
"We are dealing with people's lives. I believe the preparations we've made, through the voluntary redundancy programme during 2010/11 and 2009/10 will pay off in 2011/12 and we will replenish the reserves."
He also revealed that Cheshire East Council will end the current financial year with a £7.7m overspend, which he attributed to "the massive growth of adult services and the safeguarding of children."
Councillor Fitzgerald concluded "I am pleased that this challenging but necessary Budget has been adopted. It follows a lot of hard work and some tough decisions. Cheshire East Council is well prepared. We have restructured and transformed services to create real efficiencies over the last two years. This work has continued as the Cabinet and managers worked hard to deliver the Budget, while protecting frontline services. This commitment will continue."
"The Budget recognises the need to meet a rising demand for Council services – particularly those involved in care of the elderly, protecting and enhancing the lives of children and repairing and improving our winter-damaged roads – against a backdrop of the Government's tightening of public sector purse strings. We recognise that delivering high-value, low-cost Council services is essential to being more accountable to local taxpayers and helping grow and develop a sustainable Cheshire East."
He added: "The Council's spending is based on the needs of local residents and we will strive to make each pound go further. Using Government comparisons, the spending power for Cheshire East Council is only £753.31 per head. This compares with an England average of £1007.21. Value in Cheshire East is already high but we will continue to do more."
"The Council will continue to engage with Government to ensure it recognises the potential in Cheshire East. I also look forward to continuing our work with local partners and businesses to maintain Cheshire East's position as a prosperous place with great potential."
Click here to download a copy of the Budget Report 2011/12.
Photo: Macclesfield Town Hall © Copyright Colin Park.
Update:
David Brickhill, Councillor for Doddington, has confirmed he resigned from the Conservative Group of councillors following Thursday's council meeting.
He told me "I could not stay in the group and vote against their budget, which I found to be very unreliable indeed. It shows none of the detail of how the cuts are to be carried out.
"It does not include the revised list of fees and charges, which have, every year up to now, been published with the budget. So we did not know how these alternatives to cuts will be applied. I am particularly worried about possible huge increase in care charges for the elderly. One example, the council callously published the day after the budget vote, shows a 66% increase and another 20%.
"There is a caution in the report from the Treasurer that the £6.7M reserves are below the risk level of £14.7M. I noted that the council overspent its budget in the current year by over £7 million. A similar performance this year could wipe out the reserves completely and leave no money in the kitty.
"How anyone could support such a faulty budget is very perplexing. The liberals abstained which in my opinion is even worse than trying to be constructive."
Looking to the future, Councillor Brickhill is strongly considering standing as an independent candidate in the local elections on May 5th. Under party rules he will have to resign from the Conservative Party if he decides to stand as an independent.
