York’s budget is to be cut by almost 10% – or £14m – as swingeing savings are needed to ‘ensure the council stays afloat’, says the ruling Labour group.
But the Lib Dem opposition have called it a ‘slash and burn’ budget that will hit the least well-off.
The proposed 2024-25 budget, revealed today (Wednesday), details plans to introduce charges for green bin collections, a hike in parking fees, significant cuts to the library service, major adult social care savings and a big rise in council tax.
Altogether, York needs to cut £40m from its budget over the next four years.
City of York Council leader Cllr Claire Douglas said: “We’ve been clear from day one that the budget we inherited after 13 years of central government funding cuts, combined with the depletion of council reserves, meant making some very tough decisions.
“My executive colleagues and I are not happy about the need to take these decisions and feel deeply uncomfortable about the harrowing impact of the budgetary position we find the council in.
“Unlike other public sector organisations, we have a legal responsibility to set a balanced budget and that’s what we publish today.
“I can assure residents we’ll work tirelessly to limit the impact of these service reductions and work closely with our partners to continue delivering our council plan priorities, retaining our focus on equalities, affordability, climate and health.”
Among the proposals in the budget report, to be discussed at the council’s executive meeting on Thursday 25 January, are:
- a yearly charge of £46.50 for green bin collections
- a cut to the York Explore Libraries & Archives of £300,000 a year for two years
- savings of £3.5m in adult social care
- an increase in parking charges of up to 30p per hour and an increase in the standard Respark permits by £10
- a 4.99% increase in the City of York Council element of the council tax.
Green bins
On charging for green bin collection, Cllr Jenny Kent, joint executive member for environment and climate emergency, said: “Put bluntly, this non-statutory service costs £1.75m per year and we now can’t afford to run it for free.
“Almost a third of households in the city don’t use it; we need to cover the costs to deliver it fairly, releasing significant savings that can be used to support core council obligations, and protect the most vulnerable.”
Around 70% of councils already charge for garden waste collection, she said.
Libraries
The plan is to cut the council’s funding for York libraries by £600K over two years.
Cllr Jo Coles, executive member for health, wellbeing and adult social care, said: “We are rightly proud of our brilliant libraries service but until this financial year, York Explore has not had any of the budget cuts affecting other parts of the council.
“There has also been significant capital investment of £7.7m into library buildings since 2019. It’s important we are fair in how we make planned reductions in funding.
“We are committed to working with York Explore, their staff and volunteers, to increase their income from their wonderful cafes, events and from other funding sources such as grants to mitigate against the budget reductions we are being forced to make.”
Adult social care
According to the council report, adult social care in York is facing an overspend of £8.24m.
The budget foresees an increase in spending on the sector of £4.7m, but that still leaves the council needing to find savings of £3.5m.
The report says: “We will need to see significant reductions in the price we pay, the numbers of people we provide commissioned services to, the amount of the services which people receive and the type of commissioned service we provide to manage within our budget.”
Cllr Coles says: “Funding for adult social care hasn’t kept pace with increasing demand across the city, so we also have to look carefully at how we can ensure that we provide the best possible support for York’s residents and their carers, so we will also review council services, including those we provide in partnership with the NHS, and community and voluntary services.
“These are hard decisions, given the valuable person-centred support these services provide, but in undertaking this review we intend to make sure that these services have the maximum impact in supporting people and maintaining independence.”
Councillor Katie Lomas, executive member for finance, performance, major projects and equalities, said: “York is currently operating on a budget around £40m below what it should be. Our historically low funding base means we are forced to make deeper cuts than other comparable councils.
“We came into office to deliver our priorities and to achieve that, we first need to ensure the council stays afloat through robust financial management, clear priorities and a focus on cost-control.
“High inflation, increasing demand for high-cost services the council must legally deliver, national funding reductions and restrictions on income all combine to leave us having to remove almost 10% of the council’s budget.”