Suffolk Coastal has agreed a budget that will mean only an eight pence increase in the weekly cost of its services to an average Band D home while bringing its total of efficiencies made since 2001 to over £10 million.

The Full Council voted last night (Thursday) to set a Council Tax for a Band D home of £149.40, up by 2.9 per cent or £4.14 a year from 2009/10. A total of £7.4 million will be raised from the district’s Council Taxpayers to fund the Council’s annual budget of £15.68 million.

“This budget will help us deliver what we know our residents want and expect from this Council – better services and even better value. We have been reviewing every part of our work to see where we can make it more efficient and relevant to what is needed by our communities,” said Cllr Ray Herring, Leader of Suffolk Coastal.
 

“It has been tough year as we have had to set sound financial foundations in order to tackle a budget gap between our current spending levels and service costs of £3.5 million over the next three years.

“The farcical confusion of the Government’s review of local councils in Suffolk has been a time-consuming and wasteful distraction. We will now concentrate on our efforts to become even more efficient, working closer with our colleagues in Waveney to maximise the benefits of partnerships to minimise costs while delivering improvements,” added Cllr Herring.

The Leader presented the Budget last night able to present a summary of success over the last year, with the Council having received a rating from its residents that no-one else in Suffolk bettered.               

decision meant it was the seventh year in a row that the Council has kept its Council Tax increase to below five per cent a year.

“We will continue to concentrate our efforts on working in partnership to deliver improvements to the quality of life in our district. In just a few weeks we will have seen:
•    the final parts of the district being linked to our improved recycling service,
•    hard-pressed towns and villages assisted directly with projects to boost their local economies,
•    night-time and weekend transport on offer for young people in our rural areas,
•    help for our local communities to go greener,
•    free or subsidised home insulation works, with specific help for our elderly residents to make sure they do not miss out, and 
•    town centre car parking charges frozen until 2012, with no changes in 16 of our 28 car parks.

“We have been, and we will have to continue, reviewing all of our services to wring out every last possible efficiency from them but this is being done in a carefully planned way to minimise and control the impact. Where we have had to increase our charges, we have done so as fairly as possible. 

“Until we finally have a Government that is ready to give a fairer share of the national funding pot to rural councils like this one, it will continue to be a battle to balance our books while meeting the demands of our communities. However, we are committed to winning that battle,” added Cllr Herring.

The Council’s total budget has risen by £457,000 since last year, despite planned efficiency savings and additional income of £1.85 million. While the Council is investing £402,000 in improved services, inflation alone will cost it a further £464,000 and its fixed costs will increase by £884,000.