SERVICES in Wyre Forest will have to be slashed "to the bone" following a £200, 000 shortfall in the financial settlement announced by the Government, it has been claimed.
District council leader Mike Oborski accused the Government of introducing a "stealth tax" after it said local authorities would be allowed to put council tax up by 7.8 per cent.
This meant a further transfer of the financial burden from central government to taxpayers, he added.
Mr Oborski said under the settlement, district councils would only be allowed an increase in the Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) of four per cent, compared with 4.5 per cent for shire districts and six per cent for counties.
But he said the extra £344,000 fell £200,000 short of the council's estimate of the cash it needed for the coming financial year. There is no way of avoiding the fact that we face cuts to our services.
"We're not talking about cutting into the fat. We're talking about cutting pretty well into the bone," he added.
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