Posted 02 February 2012 at 16:53
Council bosses in Preston are now consulting on their budget proposals for 2012/13.
The budget proposals set out total savings of £2.5m over the next five years from council budgets. A council tax rise of 3.5% for 2012/13 (from £259 to £268 per Band D property) for the Preston City Council element of council tax (17% of the total bill) is also proposed.
Commenting on the budget proposals, Councillor Peter Rankin, Leader of Preston City Council said:
“It has been very difficult to balance the budget. Preston is one of the hardest hit councils in the UK for the amount cut from its Government grant (down from £16m in 2010 to £12m next year). This is a savage 25% cut so we have to look at all options to balance the books. This includes a proposed council tax rise of 3.5%. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but given the scale of the cuts we have faced, we believe it is the right decision for Preston. The cost to taxpayers would be just £9 a year or 17p a week for the average household in Preston but it would bring in over £360,000 a year extra of much needed revenue to help protect valuable public services in Preston. “Even with the council tax rise, we are proposing savings of £2.5m over the next five years through being more efficient with resources like systems and office buildings for example. Even so, we will still need to lose 25 posts over the next 3 years. We will do our best to achieve this through voluntary redundancy. “2012 is an important year for Preston with the Guild and we aim to use the Guild as a national showcase to promote Preston in a bid to secure new investment and jobs. We are confident our budget proposals can achieve this. “We are now seeking views on all our proposals before a final decision is made at the Council meeting on 23rd February 2012.”
“It has been very difficult to balance the budget. Preston is one of the hardest hit councils in the UK for the amount cut from its Government grant (down from £16m in 2010 to £12m next year). This is a savage 25% cut so we have to look at all options to balance the books. This includes a proposed council tax rise of 3.5%. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but given the scale of the cuts we have faced, we believe it is the right decision for Preston. The cost to taxpayers would be just £9 a year or 17p a week for the average household in Preston but it would bring in over £360,000 a year extra of much needed revenue to help protect valuable public services in Preston.
“Even with the council tax rise, we are proposing savings of £2.5m over the next five years through being more efficient with resources like systems and office buildings for example. Even so, we will still need to lose 25 posts over the next 3 years. We will do our best to achieve this through voluntary redundancy.
“2012 is an important year for Preston with the Guild and we aim to use the Guild as a national showcase to promote Preston in a bid to secure new investment and jobs. We are confident our budget proposals can achieve this.
“We are now seeking views on all our proposals before a final decision is made at the Council meeting on 23rd February 2012.”
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