Cabinet sets out budget proposals
Archived press release
Date Published: 02/12/09
AVDC aims to make savings of £1.1 million to balance the budget in 2010/11
Around £750,000 of savings were proposed by Aylesbury Vale District Council’s cabinet on 1 December as part of the budget preparations for the next financial year.
Like most local authorities in the UK, the council is facing significant pressures on its budget in the face of a fall in income from services such as recycling and planning, reduced interest from investments and inflation from increasing fuel costs.
The budgets of each department have been closely scrutinised over the past few months as the council aims to make savings of £1.1 million to balance the budget in 2010/11.
Nearly all services have been involved in a service prioritisation exercise aimed at saving money in order to ensure the council can afford to deliver all its major services while keeping council tax to acceptable levels. This exercise has generated £746,000 worth of proposed savings.
The vast majority of these savings have been generated from productivity and efficiency gains, and from setting higher income targets, not from cuts to front-line services.
The cabinet’s draft budget proposes an increase of less than 9p a week on the district council’s proportion of the council tax. That would mean the annual Band D council tax bill in 2010/11 just for AVDC services would go up from the present £128.57 a year to £133.16 a year – a 3.57 per cent rise.
Although AVDC collects the council tax, it only keeps about 10 per cent of the total bill to pay for services such as collecting refuse and recycling, planning, parks, benefits and bus passes. The rest is passed to other service providers in Buckinghamshire.
As part of the council’s budget setting proposals, it is proposed to introduce charging for long and short-stay parking in Buckingham and increase car parking charges in Aylesbury and Wendover. Winslow could also see an increase in charges at Market Place and the introduction of charges at Greyhound Lane.
The plan for car parking in Buckingham includes the development of a new long-stay car park at Buckingham Athletic Football Club in Stratford Fields and the creation of more short-stay spaces at Cornwall’s Meadow.
If these tariff changes are agreed, it is proposed that they would be fixed for two years and come into force from April 2010. Part of the overall budget package is to allow free parking in AVDC car parks in the run up to Christmas each year.
The proposals also include AVDC withdrawing from managing and maintaining toilets in rural areas and the closure of the Reflex Gym at Winslow. The council is asking the relevant parish and town councils if they would like to take over these services but they may or may not wish or be able to do this for various reasons. If the councils agreed to take on these services it would save AVDC £36,100.
The cabinet has also proposed a freeze on members’ allowances during 2010/11 in light of the current financial climate. In addition, AVDC unions and staff representatives are currently balloting staff on an offer involving a pay freeze for all staff (including all senior managers) in the coming year.
Councillor Neil Blake, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “We are facing an unprecedented economic situation that has required us to make some difficult decisions. The main aims in preparing this budget were to safeguard frontline services and, more importantly, to avoid job losses. Some service reductions have been required to make savings and this budget is very tightly focused on the council’s key priorities, which will allow us to support those areas in greatest need.
“We have sought to keep council tax increases to a minimum as we are well aware of the impact on residents and our proposals represent the equivalent of an increase of less than 9p a week for the average home. This year we have the 36th lowest council tax of all 201 councils similar to us and we expect to be well below the average position again next year.
“We believe these budget proposals strike a balance between controlling council tax increases, making efficiency savings and protecting the important services that people value.”
The budget proposals will now be referred to the council’s scrutiny committees for consideration and the cabinet will meet to consider their comments and make its final recommendations on 12 January 2010. The 2010/11 budget will then be debated and set by full council on 3 February and come into force on 1 April 2010.