City of York Council’s Liberal Democrat-Conservative Executive have unveiled proposals for the authority’s 2016-2017 budget focused on protecting frontline services, vulnerable and young people.

The council has confirmed it will need to make savings of £6.5million in 2016/17 which is equivalent to 5.5% of its net budget (£117.9m). However, the council continues to spend one of the lowest amounts per head per population amongst UK local authorities. York has the 13^th lowest band D council tax, the 2^nd lowest spend per head of population of any unitary council in England.

York continues to face increased pressures including the costs of adult social care. In 2015/16 the gross spend on this service was £70.7m. It is expected that by 2019/20 adult social care costs will account for around 50 per cent of the council’s net budget. It is therefore proposed that the council takes advantage of the Government’s two per cent social care precept, which will be used exclusively to fund adult social care cost pressures. Added to this will be a further one per cent increase in Council Tax.

The Executive noted that feedback from the recent budget consultation indicated the majority of those who responded to the options provided (56% or 224 people) would prefer that there was an increase in Council Tax levels, rather than increased charges or the council providing fewer services.

The council will invest a further £1.9m in children’s social care for 2016/17 to ensure continuation of proper safeguarding arrangements and adequate provision for children looked after. A further £100k investment is outlined for mental health services as well as £234k to fund street based services work including fly-tipping and graffiti and £60k to fund a strategic flood risk assessment.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader of City of York Council, said:

“We are focusing resources on frontline services such as road repairs, street lighting, tackling fly-tipping and graffiti as well as plans to make York the Greenest City in the North. We are also investing in community mental health facilities and supporting local businesses after the floods by freezing car park charges across the city.

“Continued funding cuts and the increased costs of elderly care have left the council with some stark choices. However, we have listened to residents and whilst making significant savings we are ensuring the funding is in place for vulnerable children, adult social care and crucial street-level services.”

Key budget proposals include:

• £234,000 investment in the Community Safety Hub  to tackle anti-social behaviour including issues such as fly-tipping and graffiti.
• £2.7 million in 2016/17 to improve roads and footpaths across York
• £2 million investment confirmed for Ward Committees, Community Centres and scrapping Labour’s plans to charge you for your first Green Bin
• £175,000 to help York recover from the floods through a new strategic plan and freezing car park charges to help local businesses
• £1.9 million to protect vulnerable children and £100,000 to improve community based mental health services in York
• £446,000 to support Lib Dem plans to make York the ‘Greenest City in the North’ through investment in solar panels and new LED streetlights
• A balanced budget which deals with government cuts and reduces Labour’s wasteful spending on vanity projects.

Whilst legally, the council can only set a budget for one year, the authority is also setting out plans for the next four years, which will enable a more joined up approach.

Further information can be found in our budget briefing here: http://yorklibdems.org.uk/en/document/budget-briefing.pdf

The full budget report, which presents a budget that is fully balanced, will be taken to Executive for consideration on 11 February from 5.30pm and Full Council for approval on 25February 2016 from 6pm: http://democracy.york.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=733&MId=8846