Swansea Council’s Cabinet is set to prioritise spending on vulnerable people, schools and streetscene services as it considers options to save more than £16m next year.
The Council is facing the most difficult budget round for many years that has seen its revenue support grant from the Welsh Assembly Government cut by £4.6m next year.
And Cabinet will be told that the shortfall of £16.4m in the Council’s budget is expected in 2011/12 because of the reduced grant, inflation and other significant pressures.
Cabinet is being asked to accept the report as the basis for consultation ahead of setting the Budget for next year in February.
Swansea Council has already warned that while no area is untouchable in the drive for efficiencies, its prioirities are to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities as well as to support pupil services and defined streetscene services.
The Medium Term Financial Plan report being presented on Thursday details a range of options to help deliver a balanced budget and says that Cabinet has not yet concluded their considertation of them.
In the current financial year millions of pounds have been cut in management costs and among the options available to tackle the shortfall include further management savings of £500,000 from each department as well as voluntary redundancy and sharing services with other local authorities.
In his report to Cabinet, Jack Straw, the Council’s Section 151 Officer, said: “There is a forecast shortfall of £16.4m in 2011/12 rising to £41.2m in 2014/15.
“While this position represents an improvement over the (£53m) forecast reported to Council in February, 2010, the implications of achieving a balanced budget by 2014/15 still remains a very significant challenge for the Council.”
The report says next year there would be pressure on the Council’s budget from the effects of inflation, expected to be 3%, which means the real terms reduction in grant is considerably higher than WAG figures of 1.5% suggest.
And it adds that the cost of waste disposal will increase in future years because of an increase in Landfill Tax, though it’s expected some of this will be offset by recycling initiatives such as alternate weekly collections and weekly kitchen waste collections.
Capital funding grants from WAG are being cut by 19.6% and the implications for programmes such as building and infrastructure maintenance and disabled facilities grants is still being considered.
