This consultation is now closed - thank you for your feedback. The final budget will be agreed in March 2011.
The next few years are going to be a challenge as the government’s cost-cutting measures test us like never before.
The savings we are expecting to have to make are:
2011/12 £18,000,000
2012/13 £18,000,000
2013/14 £12,000,000
2014/15 £12,000,000
This means that we will be losing 26 per cent (£60m) of our budget over the next four years.
Our first priority is to set a legal budget for 2011/12 by March. This will not be easy, and we will have no choice but to do some things we don’t want to. However, we are working hard to make sure that we try to protect the most important services for residents.
To do this, we consulted in a variety of ways:
You Choose - a web tool where you try to set a budget for the council, which tells us which areas are important to you. Please note: the You Choose tool has now closed. Thank you to everyone who took part in using the tool.
Consultation events – local residents being asked about their priorities
Online budget consultation
Read about the savings proposals that directly affect local people. View the remaining proposals
How the budget is set
The budget for the coming financial year is set at the meeting of the full Borough Council in on 1 March 2011, but the work begins long before this.
Planning began in the summer, when we looked at where the government was suggesting our funding may change.
Most of the money we spend (70%) comes directly from government grants, with the remainder coming from fees and charges (15%) and council tax (15%).
In December we received details of the grant funding we receive from the government. This makes up 14% of our income and can be spent in any way we choose to deliver services to local people.
Other grants come from government departments such as the Department for Education, or Department for Transport.
Some of these grants are ring-fenced, which means they are for specific services. A good example of this is the dedicated school grant which makes up 24% of the money we receive, but goes straight to schools.
The amount of money we are left with is often not enough to pay for all the services we provide you. This means we have to decide where we can spend less so we can balance the budget.
Councillors and officers then work together on proposals to make sure the budget is balanced. There is then a period of consultation on these options, which is fed back to the Executive who puts forward recommendations to Borough Council.
Councillors then agree the final budget at the Borough Council Meeting in March.
Proposals
Read the proposals being made so far
The list contains a greater package than the £18 million we need to make because:
not all of the options will be full year savings
further investigation might show that the maximum savings are not possible
members need to be able to exercise political choice.