Calderdale Council’s Cabinet’s latest budget proposals are now available for consultation. The publication of the draft proposals mark the start of a 28 day public consultation.
The Cabinet is required to make further savings of £900,000 to achieve a balanced budget in 2019/20 on top of those which have been agreed by Council in previous years. It is anticipated that savings of £6.7million will be required in 2020/21 and £7.6million in 2021/22.
The budget proposals are available to view here.
All responses will be considered before the final recommendations are made by Cabinet on Monday 11 February 2019.
In addition to online consultations, there will be drop-in sessions at:
Todmorden
Thursday 24 January 15.00-19.00
Todmorden Town Hall Courtroom, Bridge Street, Todmorden, OL14 5AQ
Brighouse
Monday 28 January 14.00-18.00
Brighouse Library, Halifax Rd, Brighouse HD6 2AF
Halifax
Tuesday 5 February 12.00 – 18.00
Halifax Town Hall, Crossley Street, HX1 1UJ
The future spending plans of the Government along with a comprehensive review of how councils are financed are due to be announced later this year. This uncertainty means that this year’s Cabinet budget proposals cover only the spending and savings decisions required in 2019/20 for which funding levels are known.
A major public consultation about the future structure and management of the Council will be held later this year, which will guide future budget proposals in subsequent years once there is greater certainty about government funding levels.
To help the Council maintain essential local services, the financial plan for 2019/20 retains the 2.99% rise in Council Tax rates agreed during last year’s budget process.
The proposals address some of the services within the Council which are facing the biggest financial pressures:
• Additional Council money has been allocated to cover rising demand and costs in Adult’s and Children’s Social Care on top of £2.5m of extra Government funding.
• Additional provision of £500k to help with winter maintenance/gritting costs has also been made should it be required to help protect road users and maintain other services during wintry conditions.
• To reduce poverty and inequality the Cabinet is proposing to continue its commitment to pay social care providers an additional £1.3 million in 2019/20 to raise staff pay, improve training and terms and conditions.
To help fund the additional savings, the Cabinet budget report proposes that in 2019/20 the Council will:
• Operate more commercially to maximise income and resources by making the most use out of capital funding, achieving more planning fee income from increased house building, selling surplus assets, reducing the money paid to West Yorkshire Combined Authority and changing Council Tax exemptions.
• Provide services more efficiently, making greater use of technology and equipment (especially in Adults’ Social Care) and explore ways of reducing costs by delivering some activities in different ways.
• Work more efficiently at lower cost in areas providing back-office support (including reviewing staff travel arrangements) and streamlining how the Council itself operates on a democratic level.
