Lancaster City Council’s proposed budget for 2016/17 onwards
Lancaster City Council's Cabinet has proposed plans to save £2.8million annually over the next few years, as part of action plan to tackle a £5.6million funding gap by 2020.
If approved by Full Council the plans will see huge changes to the services delivered by the city council.
New charges will be brought in and some services discontinued as the council looks to balance the books in the wake of further Government cuts.
In the current financial year (to March 2016) the council will receive £9million in funding from the Government. This falls to £7.9million in 2016/17 and £6.9million in 2017/18. By 2020, it is expected to fall to around £5.9million.
A number of reviews will also be set in motion to determine how the council can save the remaining £2.8 million it needs to find between 2018 and 2020.
The savings come on top of almost £5m savings that have already been made since 2010.
Coun Richard Newman-Thompson, Cabinet member with responsibility for finance, said: “We find ourselves in an almost impossible position and are faced with decisions that we would prefer not to have to make. But with relentless cutbacks by the Government we have been effectively forced to cut services and bring in higher charges.
“We don’t want to do this and while we will do our best to limit the impact on our communities, the reality is that we have to find the savings from somewhere.
“Over the last five years the council has been able to make many savings by restructuring and changing the way it delivers services and becoming more efficient.
“That will only take you so far and there comes a point where there just isn’t enough money to continue running the services you want. We’re at that point now.”
Cabinet will present its draft budget for 2016/17 onwards for initial consideration by Council on Wednesday February 3.
At that meeting, it will also seek a decision to increase City Council tax by 1.99%, in line with previous years.
Final approval for the budget will go to Full Council on Wednesday March 2.
Last updated: 25 February 2016