While there's been talk at national level about the requirement for central and local government to make savings, at its meeting on 12 January Cabinet will hear that St Edmundsbury has got on with the job and come up with ideas that could save the Council Tax payer nearly £2million.
Councillors and staff have been working in teams on a marathon line by line study of St Edmundsbury's base budget - that's the day-to-day delivery of existing services before any new, or growth, items are added. The process, which will continue for the next two years, is called DR-IVE (Dynamic Review - Innovation, Value, Enterprise). The idea is to identify savings and new sources of revenue, or increases in current charges, as well as ways in which services could be improved - all with the aim of keeping Council Tax rises to a minimum.
Cabinet member for Resources, Cllr Sara Mildmay-White, said:
"We are committed to keeping Council Tax rises to the absolute minimum while also delivering excellent services people have the right to expect from us. Finding savings of nearly £2million is a tremendous achievement, but we will not be stopping there - St Edmundsbury is committed to further improvement and we will be continuing to drive down costs over the next two financial years."
DR-IVE was overseen by the Policy Development Committee which is recommending the savings to Cabinet on 12 January 2005. Over the next two months Cabinet will decide what ideas to include in its budget which will be presented to full Council on 24 February. The committee is also closely involved with the budget-setting process through policy-based budgeting. The committee has been looking, through its Budget Panel, at new proposals using a system which takes into account how they fit with the council's priorities, how they would improve services and what risks are attached to going - or not going - ahead with each project. This assessment will also be used by Cabinet to help develop the budget.
Ideas suggested by the DR-IVE teams include savings of £200,000 on salaries, £350,000 on computers and £250,000 on insurance premiums, along with the introduction of a trade waste skip service, charges for pest control, rent reviews, higher Festival ticket prices and increased charges for market stalls in Bury St Edmunds (an extra 10p a foot).
Car parking increases in some areas are also being suggested to Cabinet, but only in Bury St Edmunds. While the Parkway multi-deck would remain the same at 80p all day, for example, the proposal is to increase charges at the other long stay car parks - Parkway surface and Ram Meadow - by 20p to £1 for all-day parking. Most other car parks would go up between 10p and 30p, depending on the time parked. Changes are also being suggested by the Policy Development Committee in the management strategy for the St Andrew's Street South car park to ensure the maximum length of stay is three hours.
Cllr Mildmay-White commented:
"My thanks go to all the teams for the tremendous amount of work which has gone into the DR-IVE process.Some of these suggestions will be challenging but Cabinet will consider each one carefully before deciding whether to include them in the budget to be taken to full Council. The bottom line is that we have to take positive action to prevent unsustainable Council Tax rises."
ENDS
ISSUED BY MARIANNE HULLAND, COMMUNICATIONS UNIT, ST EDMUNDSBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL. Tel 01284 757034. marianne.hulland@stedsbc.gov.uk
