A presentation will be given at the meeting.
Minutes:
Councillor Jane Lewis, Deputy Leader of the Council and Chief Executive Mike Owen attended the meeting to consult with those present on the budget options for the coming three years.
It was explained that the main objectives were to lead, shape and maintain a prosperous Bury that was fit for the future.
Bury Council was the biggest employer and provider of services in the town with a £448 million turnover.
Mike Owen set out where the Council’s money came from and explained that there had been a reduction of £65 million in Government funding since 2010 with a further £32 million cut up to 2020.
It was explained that if Bury had been funded per head to the same level nationally it would have an extra £9 million and if it had been funded per head to the same level as Greater Manchester there would be £18 million extra.
How the Council spent its money was explained:-
• Adult Social Care £46.8 million
• Looked after Children £10.6 million
• Waste Disposal £12.5 million
• Highways £6.4 million
• Refuse Collection £4.0 million
• Libraries £2.4 million
• Parks & Open Spaces £2.2 million
• Sports & Leisure £1.2 million
It was also explained that there were other demands such as the population living longer but needing added support in later life.
It was also explained that there were unknown variables to consider such as inflation, rises in energy prices and other levies.
The Council were constantly looking for efficiency savings and were planning to transform services across the three Council Departments:-
Resource and Regulation – Proposed cut of £7m
Children, Young People and Culture – Proposed cut of £7.7m
Communities and Wellbeing – Proposed cut of £17.7m
It was explained that for Resource and Regulation there would be more collaborative working with other organisations and providers, further income generation, Investment in the highways network to improve the network and reduce the repair bill, joint enforcement, further treasury management in relation to property investment and back office service reconfiguration
For Children and Young People there will be optimisation of external funding, development of the Early Years Provision, development of the fostering and looked after children service, service reviews, a management restructure and changes to school funding regime.
Communities and Wellbeing were focussing on bringing together health and social care services with joint commissioning, review of operational services, review of leisure and wellbeing services, review of the organisational structure and transport arrangements.
It was explained that the Council will still have to deliver statutory services but would also want to have aspirations to tackle inequalities and support life chances.
It was also explained that the Council could not raise the Council Tax by more than 2% and the Social Care Precept by more than 3%.
It was reported that some Councils had stated that they would be using their reserves to help balance their budgets. Council reserves were there to help out in extreme situations and once they were used they were gone. The Council could use its reserves but wouldn’t want to.
Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:-
· A member of the public referred to Looked After Children and asked whether this included children in care as well as children with additional needs.
It was explained that this referred to all children who required any kind of support. The issue was that where there was the demand, the Council was statutorily obliged to offer support in some cases. If demand grew it would cost the Council more and this would mean taking funds away from non statutory services.
· A member of the public asked how the academisation of schools would affect Council finances?
It was explained that the money received from Government for schools was given straight to schools after the Council received it. When a school became an academy they were no longer under the Council’s control and were self managed. The Council would offer to provide services to the schools if the schools wanted to buy them.
· A member of the public asked why the Council could not provide services to schools without charging them.
It was explained that this was not financially viable. The Council had to provide a wide range of services so would have to cut other services in order to do that.
· A member of the public referred to SEN and the travel provided during respite and asked why this was excluded.
It was explained that the statutory services that the Council provided would be delivered but not all services were statutory and these would be reviewed.
· It was asked whether borrowing money to repair the highways was the right decision.
Mike Owen explained that if borrowing didn’t save money in the long run the Council wouldn’t do it.
It was also explained that improving the highways network would make Bury more attractive to businesses and therefore help raise Council income from business rates.
· Councillor Harris referred to the properties that the Council owned and asked how this worked.
It was explained that if the money was sat in the bank it would be earning 0.5% interest but the investments that the Council had were earning 6.5%.
Councillor Harris stated that Bury was a nice place to live and the Council staff worked hard to ensure that this continued and they were a credit to the Council and this should be recognised.
It was reported that comments and suggestions could be submitted in the following ways:-
• Submitting feedback online at www.bury.gov.uk/Budget201720
• Emailing at Budget201720@bury.gov.uk
• Writing to: Budget201720, Bury Council, Knowsley Street, Bury, BL9 OSW
• Telephoning: 0161 253 5696
• Completing a Township Forum Exit Survey
It was agreed:
That Councillor Lewis and Mike be thanked for their presentation.