Council bosses in Winchester, Eastleigh, Test Valley, Fareham and New Forest fear budget cuts

TEST VALLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL:

The leader of Test Valley Borough Council said the latest ten per cent cut would add to the council’s ever-increasing deficit.

However, Cllr Ian Carr, below, said they had managed to balance the budget this year, finding an extra £1m, and would be trying to do that again next year.

He said this had not been done through cutting services or jobs, but through using savings and “working smarter”, such as collaborating with other authorities in services.

“Obviously we’ll have to make it up and add it to our everincreasing deficit that we need to find, which is £1.5m at the moment,” added Cllr Carr.

“We’re expecting it to be more than ten per cent.

“I know we have lost 41 per cent of our Government grant over the last six years so another ten per cent on top of that makes life really difficult.

“Fortunately we do have a lot of house building going on which helps.”

He said at this time they were not looking to cut jobs or services as a result of the Government cut, but could not rule them out in the longer term.

“We will do our best to avoid that and look at other ways,” he added.

He said the savings would be achieved through working smarter, making savings, working with others and increasing income, but although council tax did increase last year, he said the council was not planning to increase it for the 2014/2015 year.

WINCHESTER CITY COUNCIL:

Winchester City Council, which has lost about 25 jobs over the last few years, looks set to lose about £580,000 in central funding.

NEW FOREST DISTRICT COUNCIL:

The New Forest District Council will have to look at savings in non-essential areas to deal with the likely ten per cent cut, its leader said.

Cllr Barry Rickman, below, said although the New Forest council had always been a “pretty lean machine” the cut would make things “difficult”.

However, he said it would depend on where the cuts were made as to how it would affect the council in terms of money lost.

He anticipated that an increase in budget for troubled families could actually benefit the council.

Cllr Rickman said the council had continued to reduce staff, but on the whole through voluntary redundancies and vacancies that were never filled and said the council would continue to look for “natural wastage”, such as redundancies and added “you are not going to see mass redundancies”.

He said council tax has not increased for the fourth year running this year and said he was confident that the council would not need to increase it as a result of the cut.

He also said they would protect frontline services.

FAREHAM BOROUGH COUNCIL:

Goverment cuts to local council budgets could lead to an increase in council tax in Fareham, the council leader said.

Cllr Sean Woodward, below, leader of Fareham Borough Council, also said he could not rule out job losses to its 420 staff, but that the council would try to do this through natural means rather than redundancies.

During the last five years, council tax has been frozen, but Cllr Woodward admitted that in the face of the ten per cent cut that “may be difficult” to maintain and that it might well have to increase.

Cllr Woodward said he was predicting a £1m reduction in Government funding to Fareham Borough Council over the next couple of years and said he was not surprised by the latest likely ten per cent cut.

He added that the council had set aside reserves of around £2m for such an eventuality, and that the council might have to dip into this next year.

He added: “It means more of what we have been getting for the last three years, during which period we have reduced our staffing by 20 per cent, which is obviously significant, we have saved £3m of expenditure.”

He said the council had already saved money not by slashing services or cutting jobs, but through voluntary redundancies, retirement and restructuring alongside partnerships in some areas with other local authorities, such as its joint legal services with Southampton.

The council at present spends on services around £50m, raises £6m through council tax and receives £4m in Government grants, which has been decreasing.

Cllr Woodward said he could foresee that in the next five years councils would not be getting any funding from central Government.

EASTLEIGH BOROUGH COUNCIL:

The leader of Eastleigh Borough Council said a ten per cent cut in Government funds could be a further cut of around £500,000 for the council.

Cllr Keith House said this was roughly the equivalent of eight per cent on council tax.

Keith House, above

He added: “Thanks to our property acquisitions, genuine efficiencies and the Ageas Bowl project we estimate we expect to be able to avoid cuts in frontline services again and keep our longterm commitment to keep council tax below inflation next year for the 11th year running.

“We do not expect to make any compulsory redundancies and will be helped by moving into smaller offices in the town centre next spring.”