COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The council is looking to balance the books amid a £10.2million funding gap



Council tax looks set to rise by 2.9 per cent next year with £9.59million worth of cuts also set to hit.

Coventry City Council has included the tax hike in its pre-budget proposals for 2019/20 as it looks to balance the books amid a £10.2 million funding gap.

It means if agreed bills will rise an average of £36 per year, with council chiefs saying the plan will save them the equivalent of £3.3m worth of cuts to frontline services.

Cabinet member for strategic finance and resources Councillor John Mutton will outline the proposals to cabinet on Tuesday, before they go for final approval at council in February.

He said: “We have been able to balance the budget with an increase in council tax of only 2.9 per cent.

“Last year was 4.9 per cent and it was the same the year before. This year is 2.9 per cent so I’m hoping people will be reasonably content with that.

“What that means across the city is an average increase of £36 per year which is 69 pence per week.

“For the majority of houses in Band A we are talking of an increase of £30 per year and 59 pence a week."

Councillor Mutton added: “For people on the smallest incomes that will actually work out at 9 pence a week extra, which I think is pretty damn good compared to other places.

“We have an option to go for no increase, but if we went with that it would have left us having to find another £3.3m worth of cuts and people do not want to see cuts to frontline services.

“They have had a belly-full of that. They have had eight years of austerity and cuts to budgets.

“What we have tried to do is not hit people in the pocket but at the same time maintain a reasonable level of services that they can enjoy.”

Just under £10m is being cut in the budget next year but frontline services are being protected, Cllr Mutton said.

The council is achieving this by making £4.85m in ‘technical savings’ and a further £4.74 in ‘policy options’, such as restructuring ICT services, reducing funding where there has been an underspend, and removing vacancies for job roles that have not been filled.

The authority will also continue to look at purchasing capital assets that bring in a revenue, with Cllr Mutton citing Coombe Abbey Hotel as a success story that will bring in £1m profit next year.

But Cllr Mutton warned of “big concerns for future years” with a £16.7m budget gap forecast in 2020/21 and a £23.9m gap predicted for the following year, and some services at threat of being lost.

Citing government “austerity” and a reduction of £120m in funding since 2010 as the problem, he said: “We are probably one of only a handful of councils across the country that have managed to balance the books this year and last year without making huge cuts to services.

“You have got certain councils up and down the country in danger of going bankrupt.

“We are not in that situation but it will mean that because services have been cut to the bone in the past, we won’t be cutting services, we will be taking some services out of the equation altogether and no longer provide them and that worries me as we provide those services because people rely on them.”

...only 2.9 per cent

Opposition Conservatives launch budget proposals to save Coventry libraries and tackle potholes



OPPOSITION Conservative councillors have launched a bold alternative budget which pledges to save city libraries and grant funding to tackle potholes.

The Conservative group has announced a savings plan which would free up £669,000 to be injected into services delivered by the council next year.

It comes ahead of a full council meeting today (February 19) which will debate the local authority’s budget for 2019/20.

Proposals include a ‘Community Library Development Fund’ to support the city’s under-threat libraries.

Many are now run by volunteers and face an uncertain future after successive funding cuts, as we reported.

The alternative budget aims to improve the standard and safety of highways and pavements in the city.

It includes additional funding to tackle pot holes and increased funding for road safety schemes.

Conservatives also intend to boost struggling high streets with a new ‘Community High Street Challenge Fund’.

From April, businesses and community groups would be able to apply for match funding to help improve the appearance of their local high street, they say.

Increased funding would also allow the council to hire more operatives and tackle fly-tipping – which has risen by 44 per cent in recent years.

Conservatives also propose halving council tax for households across the city which currently foster children, encouraging more to foster.

There is also a pledge to restore ward forums which allow councillors to more easily hear residents’ concerns.

The savings earmarked by the Conservatives include a move to all–out elections every four years and would end the practice of holding elections almost every year.

They’d also reduce the amount of money spent on councillors’ allowances by reducing the size of the city’s key decision making body, the cabinet. They would scrap deputy cabinet members altogether.

The amount of taxpayer’s money given to the trades unions each year would be cut, and the ‘secretive’ ‘Policy Contingency Fund’ would also be scrapped.

The ‘Citivision’ publication would also be abolished with it being made available online instead.

Council tax to rise by annual average of £70 after Coventry budget approval



COUNCIL Tax in Coventry will rise by an annual average of £70 from April after Coventry City Council approved the ruling Labour group’s budget.

The Labour group says it will raise its share of tax by 2.9 per cent – an annual increase of £46 for an average Band D property – to help combat homelessness and fly-tipping, and improve waste management.

With West Midlands Police having announced an 18.67 per cent rise in its share, Coventrians will pay an average of £70 more over the year – including the police precept of £24.

Cabinet member for finance Coun John Mutton said the council was able to earmark more funding for a number of key services.

He added: “We are all well aware that we have a national housing crisis with rising numbers of rough sleepers in the city centre, and hundreds of families in unsuitable B and B accommodation.

“We are working hard to increase the work we do to reduce homelessness and have identified a number of projects to ensure more temporary accommodation is available.

“I’m also keen to see more done to address fly-tipping in communities in the city.

“Last year we put extra funds towards targeted fly-tipping removal teams in areas where the biggest problems exist.

“We know that this problem still continues so we have taken a decision to make this new service permanent.”