BCP Council is proposing to increase the Council Tax for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole residents by five per cent again this year.
The Council says it has produced a budget for the next four years that protects the most vulnerable and provides a sound, stable financial future.
£309m is spent each year delivering public services to more than 400,000 residents, with around two thirds of this money spent providing services for when people need support most.
The 4.99% increase is made up of 2.99% for the basic Council Tax and 2% for the social care precept.
Today’s budget identifies £41m of further savings, efficiencies, and additional income generation proposals.
BCP Council Leader Vikki Slade, said: “As a responsible council, we have a legal obligation to balance our budget and provide essential services to support the most vulnerable in our society, keep our communities clean and safe, and maintain core infrastructure.
“Making the necessary savings to achieve this balanced budget has required us to make some very difficult and painful choices. Our budget approach has been focused on delivering value for money for residents and maintaining the council’s financial health and ongoing sustainability. The budget recognises that the Council has previously been living beyond its means.
“BCP Council is facing acute pressures caused by years of austerity, recent high inflation and the exceptional demand faced by all local authorities, and other public services, at this time. We have not shirked from making the tough decisions you see outlined in these plans and we have acted responsibly to balance the budget in a sustainable way over 4 years.
“These proposals include reducing statutory services in adult and children’s social care, reducing early help and preventative services, cutting our Community Safety Accredited Officers, changing the way we support the Bournemouth Air Festival, reducing grass cutting and finding ways to reduce the costs of our library services.
“We know how tough these proposals will be for our residents to hear but we have no alternative. We must deliver a budget that puts the council on a sustainable financial footing and avoids serious government interventions that we have seen in other parts of the country.”
To date the Council has already delivered £82 million in savings, efficiencies, additional income and service adjustments since bringing three councils into one authority. Some of these savings have come from the council’s transformation programme which has been working to redesign services to make them more efficient, and in turn, more cost effective to run, but other savings have come from reductions in key services as well.
The report and full appendices are available here.
