Image
The council has already made significant savings over the last 13 years of austerity. Additional funding allocations from central government to support covid recovery have come to an end and have not been replaced with revised measures to help tackle the inflationary increases.
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement earlier this month brought news that councils would be able to raise council tax next year by up to five per cent including up to two per cent ring-fenced for adult social care. Cllr Ash Cartman, North Somerset Council’s executive member for corporate services explained why this won’t solve the council’s budget problems:
“Given that our council tax is lower than all our neighbours and last year was £351 lower than Bristol for a band D property, raising more money through council tax doesn’t generate as much additional money for us as it does in other council areas. And doing so places additional pressures on our residents who are already facing significant financial challenges of their own, so it’s not something we do gladly or lightly.
“The Chancellor’s announcement doesn’t translate into additional budget for us because our financial planning included extra grant funding from government which has not materialised. His Autumn Statement also outlined that councils would benefit from new funding for social care reform. While this is welcome it will need to be ringfenced for the additional responsibilities which we will face.”
Since the £17m gap in the council’s budget was announced in September, council staff have been working with Executive councillors to develop savings proposals to reduce that gap to £4m. £17m accounts for about 10 per cent of the council’s net spend against a background of an already very lean financial position.
Cllr Cartman added: “We will do our best to protect our services for the most vulnerable people in our communities wherever possible and they remain our priority. We know that there are difficult times ahead for our residents, businesses and our organisation as we all face the impact of the cost of living crisis, but we are committed to delivering the best services we can and a more open, fairer and greener North Somerset.”
Once the draft budget has been approved for consultation at the meeting next week, members of the North Somerset Citizens Panel will be invited to share their views on the plans for the year ahead. They’ll have the opportunity to answer questions relating to current service provision as well as potential changes highlighted within the budget papers. Their feedback will be included within the next report so councillors can consider the views of local people when these important decisions are made.
The council’s leadership team and senior managers will continue to work on proposals to close the remaining £4m gap for 2023-24, before the final budget and council tax levels are agreed in February.
The report being considered next week is available on the council’s website along with the other items for that meeting.
The Executive meeting is open to the public and takes place at the Town Hall in Weston-super-Mare on Wednesday 7 December at 6pm. It can also be viewed online at https://youtu.be/cHwTSo14w4g.