There are only so many ways to fund a budget deficit of £350,000, and it is a matter of regret that the lady and gentleman of the press present at today’s Overview and Scrutiny Joint Meeting on the Budget at Babergh only waited to hear the deliberations on two out of the five options on offer.
Once the issue of car parking was firmly kicked into touch, and Members had expressed the opinion that we should refuse the Government’s zero council tax inducement and increase council tax by 3.5% (preserving a higher tax base and raking in an additional £90,000 or so), Members took a well deserved coffee break.
Of course today’s Committee was not actually making decisions on the budget. It was forming its recommendations to the Strategy Committee, who will look at everything once again before the measures go to full Council for a final decision in February. Nonetheless it would be foolish to ignore their deliberations.
After the break there were no representatives of the press to be seen; a pity since they missed quite a lot.
Babergh can save money by making some changes/adjustments to services. This adds up to around £140,000. Most measures are relatively uncontroversial, and the area that seems to be causing the most angst just now is the closure of various Public Conveniences around the District. Officers noted that the time and energy expended on this matter is probably disproportionate to the £30,000 or so of anticipated savings, so expect a resolution soon.
Then the Committee came to Community Grants. An impassioned, and to my mind sound, appeal from Mark Newman, Member for Cornard South, urged Members to refrain from meddling with the status quo here, but this was not to be. Officers were sent away to look for savings of £35,000 to £40,000 from this area.
I am maintaining an open mind on the budget options until I have heard all the arguments. However, it does seem to me that, given the choice, residents of Babergh might be prepared to stump up a pound or so a week for parking their cars in preference to seeing some of these worthwhile organisations go to the wall.
And then we came to the potential ‘Get out of Gaol Free Card’: funds amounting this year to close to £400,000, given to us for a limited period by the Government as a reward for building houses in recent years. The Housing Minister, Grant Schapps, has made it clear that it is acceptable for Councils to spend this money on anything they like: keeping council tax down, investing to save, and even, YES! reducing, and, by extrapolation, not imposing car park charges.
Whether or not these funds should be used to plug the gap in the budget is an interesting one. It is too complex to expand upon the issue here but it could well be the subject of a future post. Clearly all Members at today’s meeting felt that at least a proportion of the deficit should be absorbed in this way.
All in all however today’s meeting was a fascinating one in many ways, and it remains to be seen how many of the Committee’s recommendations finally shape the Budget that will be approved early in 2012.
Further details about some of the issues referred to above can be found if you look at today’s Committee Papers on the Babergh website:
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