Six months to slash city budget by £1.1m

Work has already started on a rescue package to reduce the council's outgoings, but no details have yet been revealed.

More information on the proposed budget reductions being drawn up by the cabinet, under the advice of officers, is expected in October.

There will then be a long series of debates by members of the council's scrutiny committees before the budget for 2003/04 is finalised in February next year.

The leader of the council, Coun Stephen Inman, said that in recent years it had been spending more money than it possessed and relying on its reserves.

"These reserves have not been replenished and dipping into them for another year is not really an option," he said.

"We have to find some savings in the budget of at least £1.1m.

"That debate is going to take place over the next few months in cabinet and in the policy and review committees."

He reassured residents that the shortfall would not mean a huge rise in the city council's share of the council tax.

But he said some services would inevitably be affected by the need to cut back.

"The main mantra is going to be 'doing less but to a higher standard'. The days of trying to do everything have got to come to an end.

"But people will not experience pain without there being a gain in other service areas," he added.

The debates over the budget are likely to become heated in the coming months as councillors vie for limited resources.

And Coun Inman said the policy and review committees formed to scrutinise the work of the cabinet under the new council system would play a vital role in developing the budget.

"It would be totally against the ethos of the leader and cabinet system if we did not listen to what the committees were saying.

"We are supposed to work with them and use their views and ideas constructively and we will" he said.

The cabinet aims to balance the books at City Hall by 2004 by committing themselves to a complete review of the budget and service priorities.

LABOUR councillors claim the shortfall in Worcester City Council's budget for this year could have been avoided if more careful checks had been made on spending.

At a meeting of the Corporate Services Policy and Review Committee, it was revealed that new budget monitoring arrangements had proved "difficult to implement".

According to chief finance officer Grahame Lucas, this had combined with staffing problems in the finance office and the additional costs facing the council to create the current crisis.

Concerns were also raised that the cost-cutting package being put in place try and claw back £400,000 would affect public services.

Councillor Jo Hodges said plans to delay council staff recruitment would inevitably cause problems.

"Presumably, every post is of value and needs to be done, otherwise they would not exist in the first place," she said.

Coun Simon Geraghty, cabinet member responsible for corporate services, said the posts would be filled eventually, but that vacancies would remain open for three months instead of the usual two.

Speaking after the meeting, Labour group leader Coun Adrian Gregson said he was still not happy about the situation.

"They don't appear to have monitored the situation at all well. Either they are presiding over people who are not taking any notice of them, or they are aware of the problem and are doing nothing about it," he said.

"With £1.1m-worth of savings to be made next year we are likely to see cuts in services for the first time in many years.

"This Conservative administration appears to be letting down the local electorate and they don't seem to have any strategic plan to do anything about it."

THE Tory administration at Worcester City Council has pledged to make the city a cleaner and greener place.

As work starts on the budget for 2003/04, the leader of council said he wants to target spending on keeping the streets free from litter, graffiti and chewing gum.

Councillor Stephen Inman also wants to plough funding into improving recycling facilities.

"Public consultation has shown that cleanliness is vital in trying to get people to shop and spend their spare time in the city.

"We will be making extra commitments towards graffiti cleaning, gum removal and litter collections," he said.

Coun Inman said they would also be trying to encourage more tourists to visit Worcester.

"Tourism has a great part to play in our economy and the city, which has the natural resources already, has undersold itself for many years."

But their greener and cleaner priorities will have to fit into a leaner budget where more than £1m has to be saved to put an end to the council's history of over-spending, which has been draining its reserves.The committees will also have their say on the areas they think should benefit from the precious resources as the long budget process starts.

Over the next few months, discussions will go back and forth between the review committees and the cabinet, with the budget due to be finalised in February next year.

THE city council is taking urgent action to avoid overspending on this year's budget by more than £400,000.

Following a mid-term review of its finances, it has had to draw up a package of cost-cutting measures which, if approved by the Cabinet due to meet tonight, will be put into place immediately.

These include cutting building maintenance, keeping vacant posts open for an extra month, and reducing capital spending on computers.

A history of overspending meant the council always expected to have to make savings, but it estimated these would only be £200,000.

However, extra costs, including a rise in insurance premiums, an increase in the cost of the concessionary bus fare scheme, and the proposed pay award for council workers, meant savings have to rise to £415,000.

The leader of the council, Coun Stephen Inman, said the cutbacks, in particular the go-slow on recruitment, would not affect key public services.

"These are short-term, stop-gap measures that will not be noticeable by the man on the street.

"They are savings that can be achieved quickly and are not things that would be controversial.

"We will be delaying the appointment of staff when someone leaves but that is not going to be at the expense of key services," he said.

Services such as refuse collection, street cleansing, burials and cremations, and environmental health will not be included in this measure.