Cheshire East Council has voted to freeze Council Tax for the second year running – while boosting spending on services for vulnerable children and adults.
The freeze in the authority's Council Tax will be facilitated by a grant of £4.5m from central Government, which will be held in the authority's cash reserves to support future spending.
The decision comes despite the continued reductions in government grants, increasing cost pressures and potential changes to the Council's funding arrangements.
A meeting of the full Council voted through the proposed Council Tax on Thursday, February 23rd, along with the Council's new-look Business Plan. This document moves away from the traditional way of reporting separately the Council's Budget for the coming year and its corporate priorities. It now combines everything in one document to show its ambitions and available resources.
The planned spending on Council services (gross spending on services, less income from fees and charges) for 2012/13 is £553m. This is £33m lower than the previous year's figure of £586m. The Cheshire East Band D Council Tax will remain unchanged at £1,216.34.
Cheshire East Council Leader Wesley Fitzgerald said: "The Business Plan outlines robust proposals for the next three years that support the Council's determination to deliver the priorities identified in the Sustainable Community Strategy, 'Ambition for All'.
"Compared to the majority of English local authorities, Cheshire East Council provides good value for money, with low spending per head and a low reliance on Government grants.
"The Business Plan tackles a tough challenge – namely: to set achievable targets for another difficult year of austerity and financial instability related to our funding position.
"The amount Cheshire East receives from Government is lower than the national average. As a result, the Council has nearly £200 less to spend per resident, but still achieves value for money in providing excellent services for its residents.
"The Council collects Business Rates but pays them all over to a central pool. Central Government then allocates the pool across all English councils. But, because of the formula used by the Government, the Council gets back £59 less per head than residents in similar-sized authority areas.
"In spite of these challenging figures, the Council has produced a robust Budget which demonstrates that we are working to achieve the 'Ambition for All' priorities."
In working to the priorities, the Council has had to balance the need to reduce spending with the increasing demand on services and rising costs.
Councillor Fitzgerald added: "Significant issues, such as soaring energy costs and rising demand for key services, have been identified and action taken.
"Children and vulnerable people continue to be at the forefront of the Council's priorities. Helping children and their families early is the key to reducing the demand for in-house care. In the coming year, another £1m will be invested in early intervention.
"An additional £3.6m has also been allocated to provide care in adult services, in recognition of the cost pressures from rising demand.
"The Business Plan will maintain high standards in key frontline services to residents and businesses – but make necessary reductions and additional charges where appropriate.
"This Council and it priorities will continue to provide value for money and strive to refine strategies to deliver excellent services to the people of Cheshire East."
Business Plan measures include:
● No increase in basic Council Tax levels for 2012/13 – securing extra Government
funding of £4.5m (equivalent to increasing Council Tax by 2.5 per cent);
● £3.6m investment in care for vulnerable adults – to help meet rising demand for frontline services;
● £1m increase in spending for children's services intervention in cases of children aged 13+ – to reduce demand for in-house care;
● £0.2m increase for fostering and family support;
● £0.2m one-off grant to town and parish councils – to address the issue of local services to unparished areas charged to all Cheshire East taxpayers;
● General reserves will increase from £13.2m to £20.8m.
Councillor Michael Jones, Cabinet member with responsibility for resources, said: "This is a robust Budget to support the Council's ambition to deliver the Sustainable Communities Strategy for the people of Cheshire East.
"Our Government formula funding grant meant that we started the current financial year with £11.8m less than the year before. We received £70m while Cheshire West received £96.6m.
"Cheshire East has a healthy economy but of the business rates we collect, we receive back only 44 per cent. The wealth we generate is being used to bolster other areas which are not as robust as ours.
"The Council will continue to lobby the Government to address some of these issues – to get a better deal for the people of Cheshire East.
"Funding for local services is estimated to significantly reduce over the medium term. The Council's challenge will be to manage this reduction while creating the minimum impact on service users and without having to heavily impact on local taxpayers, who already make a significant contribution.
"We welcome the localism agenda and hope to receive more, if not all, of our Business Rates.
"There is no doubt that more savings have to be made and this is despite increasing pressure and demand for our services. I am confident that the Budget provides the direction to achieve those challenging savings and efficiencies across the board while not diminishing service delivery.
"We must plan ahead for change and become ever more innovative. We must consider a wide variety of delivery models, looking at best-practice models in other organisations and local authorities and improve business systems to reduce overheads across the Council.
"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."
Due to the proposed Council Tax freeze, and to address the costs of the non-parished areas of Crewe and Macclesfield, Cheshire East Council will pay a grant to all parish and town councils, proportionate to their number of average Band D households.
This addresses the issue of the unparished towns of Macclesfield and Crewe, which charge no town or parish precepts for those discretionary local services which are paid for by all Cheshire East Council Tax payers.
Photo: Cllr Michael Jones.
