Newcastle City Council has announced proposals to slash services, cut jobs and increase council tax in an effort to save £23m in this year’s budget.
The council - which says it needs to save £67m over the next three years - has announced plans to increase council tax by 4% next year, with £23.1m of budget cuts in the same period.
Parking fines across the city may increase to help plug the council’s financial hole, with documents estimating this could generate over £1m of additional income. The council also proposes to save £3.3m by “safely” reducing the demand for children, education and skills services.
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A total of £1.66m can be saved, according to council figures, by strengthening community assets to ensure as many children and young people as possible can remain in the care of their families.
A total of 54 full-time jobs within the council are likely to be lost, though 40 of these are currently vacant posts. The council is also planning to save around £98,000 with a restructuring of the Castle Nursery service, which at present operates five nurseries across Newcastle.
City council leader Nick Kemp said: “I would like to thank everyone who took part in our budget consultation. We very much appreciate residents and partners telling us what they think of these difficult proposals.
“The increasing financial pressure on councils everywhere means that our budget cannot stretch as far as we’d wish. Our medium-term financial plan is designed to give stability now and in future, must be seen in the context of the savings we’ve had to make; we are expected to deliver the same services with 30% less funding than in 2010.
“We would rather not increase council tax at all, but the reality is we rely on this to provide vital frontline services. We are conscious of the challenges everyone is facing right now so have decided not to raise it to the level expected by Government.
“We propose to invest further into our council tax reduction scheme. This will help our residents meet other rising costs such as food, mortgages, rent and fuel. The remainder of the money we raise from council tax will fund the frontline services residents rely on to create the clean, green city we all want to live in.”
The budget proposals - which need to be approved by the full council at the start of March - would equate to a rise of 94p a week for a family living in the lowest Band A property, and £1.42 per week for a Band D house.
The proposed budget would see the council’s revenue spending rise by just over £20m to £262.7m next year. But cost pressures of £43.1m mean the council is having to find £23.1m of savings.
Further budget cuts of £23.1m in 2024-25 and £21.2m in 2025-26 are also being prepared by the council.
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