Council freezes Tax in response to recession

5.33.00pm GMT Sat 13th Feb 2010

• CLLR Stephen Knight, Deputy Leader of the Council, writes: "These are difficult times and we have considered this year's settlement very carefully. This included heeding what we were told in the budget consultation we carried out before Christmas . .

Two things from that survey were clear; there was little appetite for higher Council Tax in the current economic climate and the top three council services people prioritised for spending were care for older and vulnerable people, schools and refuse collection. These are all reflected in this year's budget. Our proposals have been made possible by sustained careful management of the Council's resources underpinned by our determination to continue making the authority more efficient.

Because of this not only can we freeze the Council Tax this year but we are still able to protect our high quality services and set aside additional money for several of our priority services. An extra £1 million is being earmarked for the care of older people and those with learning difficulties; £0.5 million is being added to the budget for children's services; an extra £0.7 million for the escalating cost of waste disposal and an additional £1.2 million for concessionary fares for the elderly.

Councils across the country are going to face massive challenges after the next general election. The government has made it clear that it wants to cut the public sector deficit, which is likely to mean real cuts in the money given to local authorities in coming years. Our challenge will be to protect priority services while keeping Council Tax down. The key to doing this will be working smarter and cooperating more closely with key organisations like the Police and NHS.

We are already planning £4 million efficiency savings in the next year and are targeting a further £10 - £15 million over the following three years. None of this is easy. The savings will mainly come from finding more efficient ways to do things and therefore employing fewer staff. We are also due to make a one off saving of £600,000 from smarter use of our office space allowing us to get rid of some building leases by the end of the year. What we are not doing - as some have called for - is using excessive amounts of our reserves for day-to-day spending or one off cuts in council tax - that would be reckless. We are using them for capital investment in essential facilities such as schools. We are also using a portion to support economic recovery programmes and to fund our major efficiency programme. This makes sense - it is investing today to save tomorrow."

Related Links:

• Richmond council tax to be frozen [RTT 10th Feb]

• Union 'in the dark' over Richmond Council job cuts [RTT 10th February]

• Richmond Council plans hundreds of job cuts [RTT 9th February]