THE ruling Conservatives approved the controversial 2021/22 budget that will see a slash in multiple Royal Borough services.
Councillors voted and debated on the final recommendations at a full council meeting on Tuesday, February 23.
Later in the year, residents will see a 4.99 increase in council tax – compromising of 1.99 per cent being for all council services, and an additional three per cent ring-fenced for adult social care.
This means a band D property will see a £53.76 spike – with the total bill being £1,131.17 for 2021/22.
READ MORE: The 'spiral of decline' budget slammed by Windsor & Maidenhead opposition councillors
Speaking at the meeting, lead member of finance, councillor David Hilton (Con: Ascot & Sunninghill), said: “I’m confident residents will not begrudge the additional £1 a week they will pay to support our most vulnerable residents and to support our staff.”
Despite this increase, both Cllr Hilton and the leader of the council, councillor Andrew Johnson (Con: Hurley & Walthams) re-emphasised the Royal Borough will still have the lowest council tax charge outside of London.
One of the biggest changes includes the Royal Borough’s weekly black bin collection will swap to fortnightly instead as not only will it save the council £175,000 – but to encourage greater recycling and be part of one of the council’s efforts to be carbon neutral by 2050.
However, food waste and recycling collections will remain as weekly.
Other cuts to services include reducing the opening hours of multiple libraries, slashing the number of community wardens, remove the arts grant from the budget later in the year, scrapping funds to the charity SMILE, and more.
The council tax increase and major savings were designed to fill the £9.25 million black hole the council faces caused by the global pandemic and past financial mismanagement.
The report also highlights the Royal Borough is in a more ‘acute’ position compared with other local authorities due to their ‘historically’ low reserves – which are ‘insufficient’ to cover future funding shortfalls – and low council tax.
Adults, health, and commissioning will see receive a small boost in funding – with a total budget of around £50 million “to continue our most vulnerable residents during this difficult period,” the lead member for finance said.
Children’s services will also see the tune of an additional £1.2 million, with Cllr Hilton saying the children services and youth offending team should be applauded for achieving an Ofsted rating of ‘good’.
Leading Conservative councillors praised the borough’s first-ever public consultation on the budget, saying it helped shaped proposals and the report itself.
Cllr Hilton said: “We see it as our duty to continue to support the most vulnerable in our community, particularly during the pandemic.
“We will invest in the local economic recovery. People are losing their jobs, livelihoods, and facing economic times.
“We are here to say we are on your side and we will use all of the levers we have available to us to ensure this borough continues to thrive after this pandemic passes.”
READ MORE: Slough cabinet approves 4.99 council tax hike in 2021/22 budget
He also praised the budget and the Conservative’s proposals for essential services for being ‘transformative’, ‘innovative’, and ‘community centric’.
The opposing Liberal Democrats and Independents panned the budget and its ‘transformative’ proposals, saying transformation is a ‘dirty word’ for cuts where community groups and vulnerable people will be most affected by this budget.
They also said their alternative proposals and amendments were either ignored by the Conservative administration or were thrown out.
Cllr Johnson said he saw no ‘genuine’ alternatives from the opposition and that they have “no vision” for the borough.
He said: “We [the Conservatives] stand alone. Alone against the endless tide of negativity and synthetic despair, however, we will not let the borough pay the price for their [the opposition] lack of vision and idealness of ideas.
“My administration has a clear plan and a positive vision of hope for the better times to come once we are through the current difficulties.
“Can the same really be said about of others? Based on the evidence and the lack of genuine alternatives, I would say sadly not.”
The budget was passed with 21 Tory councillors voting for and 19 opposition members against.
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