Caerphilly County Borough residents are to be asked for their views on plans which could see council tax increase by 7% next year.
A consultation will now take place after the council approved the draft budget proposals, which includes a council tax rise of almost 7% and cuts of more than £8 million.
An eight-week consultation will be launched on Caerphilly County Borough Council’s draft budget for the 2020-21 financial year – which includes a proposed 6.95% council tax increase, and cuts of £8.49 million. Of this, £2 million will come from schools’ budgets.
Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, November 13, the council’s interim leader Cllr Barbara Jones said that the proposed council tax increase is among the lowest across Wales.
Meanwhile, cabinet member for social care and wellbeing, Cllr Carl Cuss, said the council was facing increasing costs in its social services budgets of £800,000. These will be met through a one-off contribution from reserves, he said.
“What we are doing in social services is we are looking at this in different ways,” he said. “We are working with partners and looking at national and regional grants.
“We are now into the territory of closing homes.
“This is not something that I feel is the right thing to do.
“By protecting public services, we will make things better for residents.
“I want to reassure the public that we are equipped for any pressures coming our way in the next year.”
It is hoped that the new initiatives, including the purchasing of a third residential children’s home, the opening of Ty Isaf – which will offer four placements to children outside the area – and the employment of a specialist health visitor, will help cut costs in the future.
Ty Isaf is expected to be fully operational from the summer of 2020, providing four placements, which will be offered to children placed out of area in the first instance.
The council’s interim chief executive Christina Harrhy said the authority had minimised cuts to front-line services as much as possible.
“Since 2008-09 we have had £150 million taken out of our budget,” she said.
“We realise it’s a demanding time with more complex needs, especially with social services and education.
“We have a plan called Team Caerphilly. We want to make Caerphilly a better place to live, work and enjoy.
“Use of digital technology is an area we have to maximise.
“It’s about putting proud back into public services.”
Ms Harrhy added: “It’s an exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to the new year because we have an exciting agenda ahead.”
Cllr Jones said that it had not been an easy task putting the budget together and considerable uncertainty remained.
The council relies on the Welsh Government’s finance settlement when it comes to budget settling.
With uncertainty over Brexit and the recent announcement of the General Election, the provisional details have been delayed from October until Monday, December 16.
In a statement, the Welsh Government’s finance minister Rebecca Evans AM said that the pre-election period has changed the timetable.
She said: “I have discussed the implications of this for the timing of the Welsh Government’s budget with the Business and Finance Committees and subject to the agreement of the Business Committee we will defer publication of the Welsh Government’s budget until after the UK General Election.”
The consultation will begin on Monday, November 18, although there could be changes when the local government settlement proposals are announced by the Welsh Government.
Cllr Jones has called upon the public to get involved with the consultation.
She said: “It’s really important that the public engage with the consultation.
“It’s their chance to tell us what they want.
“We need their support to give us a real indication of where we are going.”
Where are the main proposed budget cuts?
- A 2% reduction in the Individual Schools Budget, which could lead to staff cuts in 20 to 25 schools – £2.06 million.
- A saving could be made by closing the Trehir household waste recycling centre (HWRC) – £15,000.
- A reduction in top-up to grant funded youth projects, which support engagement with 45 of the most vulnerable young people – £15,000.
- A reduction of 20% in town centre and community projects used to deliver improvements to town and village centres – £8,000.
- Reduction of school crossing patrol sites from 55 to 22 – £158,000.
- Removal of the subsidy for the Blackwood to Ystrad Mynach bus link as other services are available, but are less frequent – £80,000
- Reduction in the carriageway maintenance budget, which focuses on resurfacing, could impact on the reactive maintenance budget used for potholes – £514,000.
- A reduction in playground maintenance by 3.5%, which could lead to closure or the removal of some facilities – £10,000.
- Decommissioning of all 26 public open space CCTV cameras – £24,000.
- Withdrawal of contribution to the Bargoed ice rink – £12,000.
- Withdrawal of contribution to the Senghenydd splash pad – £3,000.
- A 7% reduction in building maintenance budgets – £106,000.
- Staffing cuts of four community safety warden posts and merge the remaining two posts with the environmental health general enforcement team – £160,000.