60 council jobs face chop
Richard Cutcher • Published 29 Jan 2012 10:00
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LEAD FIGURES: Member for finance, Cllr Richard Kellaway, leader of the council, Cllr David Burbage, Royal Borough chief executive Ian Trenholm, and Cllr Phill Bicknell, present the third consecutive reduction in council tax.
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Chiefs look for savings to finance third council tax reduction
SIXTY Royal Borough council jobs could be axed to help fund a further 1.5% reduction in council tax.
The proposals will be put to the full council on Tuesday, February 28, and if passed, the third fall in council tax in three years would bring the total reduction since 2010 to 6%. This means the average council tax bill for Royal Borough residents will be £75.87 lower than if it had been frozen during that period.
Council chiefs stress the reduction has only been made possible by making savings through new contracts for waste collection, sweeping and litter services, which combined will save more than £10m over seven years.
But a number of other council services, including Sure Start centres, are currently under review to see how further savings can be made.
Leader of the Royal Borough, Cllr David Burbage, said: "Once again we have shown that we are true to our residents by putting them first and delivering low council tax. We have also demonstrated that reducing tax can be done while still providing good quality, value-for-money services.
"Unfortunately, it is likely we will have up to 60 redundancies across the council but at the same time there will be opportunities for other staff to widen their skills and play a key role in how our council develops in the future."
Councillor John Fido, of the West Windsor Independent Group for Clewer North, said: "I always said that a percentage reduction will benefit the people who pay the most more. It is the people who are losing their jobs who are going to be worse off.
"I feel that somehow the Conservative council have got into a political race to be the lowest spend council without taking all the elements of council tax into consideration."
In the proposed 2012/13 budget is an additional £2m funding for adult services, £1.2m for highway resurfacing and £450,000 for a new rugby training pitch at Braywick Park, despite the council having the lowest spend per head of population in 2011 - £715 against the national average of £955.
This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 27 Jan 12
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