Council will not have to make 'horrendous' cuts

Posted by The Journal on Feb 2, 10 09:47 AM in Councils

Northumberland County Council will not have to make a further ÃÂ£11m in "horrendous" budget cuts, the Government has said.

It was feared that around ÃÂ£30m worth of savings would be required to balance next year's budget but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has allowed councillors to pay for some costs from the capital budget.

The authority had submitted four bids for capitalisation in respect of potential losses on Icelandic investments of ÃÂ£9.1m, for ÃÂ£6m in strain on the pension fund, ÃÂ£2.8m for enhanced redundancy and ÃÂ£1.4m for statutory redundancy.

It was revealed at a meeting of the Liberal Democrat executive yesterday that bids worth ÃÂ£16.5m had been approved, however the council was unsuccessful in respect of its bid to keep cash for its enhanced redundancy package - with any staff leaving the council after October 2010 now set to receive a statutory redundancy package only.

The executive is also proposing a council tax increase of 2.8% for next year, which is 0.8% higher than anticipated. The extra cash will be used to fund the Government initiative that provides free personal care for vulnerable old people.

The council will also increase the charges of 'paid for' services by at least 2.8 per cent.

Coun Andrew Tebbutt, executive member for resources, said: "We're pleased that we were able to make a solid case to the Government to enable us to capitalise some of these costs and reduce the need to make even more savings. Naturally we're grateful that the Government recognised these are exceptional circumstances in Northumberland.

"We have listened to the public during consultation and responded to their concerns in a number of key areas. It is far too easy to forget that we are still only ten months into this new council in which enormous amounts have already been achieved."

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