Executive Board To Discuss 2014/15 Budget Cuts

On Tuesday the Council will put forward their 2014/15 Revenue Budget draft proposals to the Executive Board.

Last month we reported on the Council Budget ‘D-Day’ which revealed that Wrexham Council would be receiving a -3.5% reduction in total funding for the local authority. The Council received a provisional settlement for the next year from the Welsh Government, which had an anticipated of £13.9m for that year. However the Council now estimates the funding shortfall of at least £45m over the next five years. You can read our full report here.

Next week a number of recommendations will be put forward to the Executive Board, with Councillor Malcolm King saying what is ‘close to the final budget’ being presented.

The report contains nearly £10m cuts and savings across all areas of the Council, along with highlighting work which is ongoing to determine savings for future years. The report also contains details of how the changes will be communicated over the coming months prior to the Council’s budget and Council Tax for 2014/15 being set in February 2014.

Alongside this the Council has also ‘trimmed’ back on some of its price inflation and other commitments which has closed the gap by a further £3m.

Cllr King said: “We’ve been working on this issue for a number of months, this issue has been particularly difficult.  We’re looking into 4-5million cuts next year. Now over 13 million; that was only confirmed a few weeks ago.

“It’s a huge mountain to climb, far bigger than anything Wrexham Council has had to face and any previous Council.”

Council Leader Neil Rogers said: “£45m is a fifth of what we are currently spending. Add on inflation and we have more than £45m. We believe it will impact on services to the residents of Wrexham.”

Reference was made to the ‘YouChoose’ programme which ran earlier this year, encouraging residents in Wrexham to take part in a budget simulator exercise. In total just over 300 people took part in the survey which allowed users to ‘balance the books’ and the Council how you think they should spend money, generate income and make savings to balance the budget.

The survey is now closed, however more information can be found on the Council website here.

Cllr King described the response to the survey as ‘very useful’, with a ‘lot of thoughtful responses’ that have resulted in the Council mirroring some of the suggestions.

The Council are encouraging members of the public to provide feedback to the proposed cuts to services.

Cllr Rogers said: “Consultation will run for about a month, up until mid-December. We encourage the public to give as much feedback as possible.

“These are not savings, they are cuts. There’s little joy in what is being presented to the people of Wrexham.”

In January the Executive Board will meet again to discuss the final proposals, before going in front of the Full Council in February.