Opposition supports council's £500m budget

WARRINGTON Borough Council has unanimously approved a £517.6 million budget for the coming year – including a 1.98 per cent increase in council tax.
Liberal Democrat and Conservative opposition groups supported the budget – despite reservations.
The increase in council tax will mean an occupier of an average Band D house will pay £1,427.30.
Council tax levels will range from £936.26 for a Band A house in an unparished area of the borough to £2,997.39 for a Band H house at Birchwood.
Cllr Russ Bowden, lead member for corporate resources and assignments, present the budget report which set out how the money will be spent, outlined upcoming capital investments and explained how £16.2 million savings would be achieved.
He said the council had tried to minimise the impact on services by finding alternative ways of providing services, redesigning services and reviewing the funding options available.
But he added: “In reality we are no longer able to provide the same level of services to our residents and have to take a more focused and targeted approach to service provision. The budget consultation exercise provided an insight into what services were important to local people and where we should invest our valuable resources.”
Identified areas for savings include the generation of funding and income from regeneration and trading opportunities, restructuring and centralising of services to generate efficiencies and delete vacant posts, improved outcomes from negotiating contracts and collaborative procurement deals, and reshaping the way the council provide
services to generate cross-cutting savings.
Cllr Bowden said in real terms, Warrington’s reduction in funding from the government stood at 9.4 per cent in the coming year, equivalent to a reduction of £6.5m. This equated to £32 for every resident in the town.
The increase in council tax equated to 44p per week for a Band D property.
Cllr Bowden added: “The decision to raise council tax was not an easy one for us to make, but we felt strongly that accepting the government’s 1 per cent council tax freeze grant would render some services unsustainable and reduce further the funding available in future years. “We are still facing significant budget pressures in the longer term with an estimated £34 million savings to be made by 2018.”
Liberal Democrat finance spokesman Cllr Peter Walker said the reduction in grant from central government had to be dealt with.
“We had similar issues to deal with under a Labour government when we ran the administration. All departments have been required to make savings and these seem to have been spread equitably through the council. It‘s good to see the money that the Lib Dem ‘pupil premium’ targeted at students from lower income families will continue.”
Cllr Walker said there were imaginative proposals in the capital programme.
But there was an item in the revenue budget not allocated to an identified need – the executive “initiative” fund of £100,000.
“A budget should never include an allocation of money without saying how it will be spent. Using this fund, we would restore the £25,000 budget cut for Police Community Support Officers. We all value the work they do and it represents a reduction of two officers and contradicts the stated ambition of the administration to make our town safer.”
They would also allocate an additional £57,000 for repairing roads and footpaths.
Lib Dem leader Cllr Ian Marks pointed out that the previous joint Lib Dem-Conservative administration had started making savings in 2006 under pressure from a Labour Government. This had been very beneficial because it meant that Labour was able to “hit the ground running” in 2011 when they took over.
“It is quite wrong for anyone to claim that the pressures on local government only started with the Coalition Government. The austerity programme looks like it is here to stay regardless of who wins the next general election.”
Conservative leader Cllr Paul Kennedy said he would be as supportive as he could for any administration he felt was trying to do the right thing.
He was pleased the council was not proposing major job cuts, but he noted that while there were departmental savings, some spending was actually increasing.
Major repairs were urgently needed for roads, pavements and drains.
But he was somewhat sceptical about energy saving investments and hoped there would be regular updates to establish was the true savings were.
Cllr Kennedy urged caution over investing in a community investment bank, pointing out that backing winners was very difficult and required considerable expertise and sometimes even luck.
He also called for regular reports on the council’s £500 million loans to social landlords to ensure that was benefit to Warrington’s residents.
Cllr Kennedy reminded the council that unwise spending of taxpayers’ money could lead to high reputational cost – and often it was relatively small amounts of badly spent money that caused the greatest reputational damage.
But he wished departmental budget holders well and, as a show of support, would vote for the budget.
Pictured right (from the top): Cllr Bowden, Cllr Walker and Cllr Kennedy.