Council tax freeze comes at a cost
AT the heart of these budget plans are a council tax freeze and a shift in spending towards adults with severe disabilities .
At the same time, it is proposed that older people with less profound needs will have their services cut.
Increases in adult social care spending at Notts County Council have driven budget decisions in the authority for some years.
But this year the need for additional spending on disabled adults and the elderly is huge, according to the council's figures.
They identify additional costs of £15.5m in the coming year. This is half of all the extra cash the local authority has to find in 2010/11.
The reason is the increasing number of people for whom the council must care in adulthood.
The population is ageing and children with severe disabilities, who would once have been more likely to die in childhood, are now living well into adulthood.
The second-largest cost facing the council next year is the Conservatives' proposal for a council tax freeze.
It will cost the authority £9m next year.
To pay for it, other budgets will have to be cut.
The Adult Social Care department is itself earmarked for savings of £10.5m – almost twice the total proposed in any other section.
Under the current plans, among those who will lose out will be older people whose needs are judged to be less severe.
The Conservatives are proposing to save millions of pounds by increasing charges for home care; cutting, or increasing the cost of, transport for older people, particularly those who use day centres; closing day centres and charging for services; and increasing the costs of meals on wheels.
County residents will get a say on these plans through the council's budget consultation.
It may be argued that additional costs in adult care cannot be avoided, but it will be interesting to see whether residents think the proposed budget cuts are a price worth paying for the tax freeze.
9 Comments
by King Biffo, Nottingham
Friday, November 06 2009, 12:05PM
“Thanks Mr S, I'll certainly have a look.
Whichever way you look at it, the 0% council tax is an absolute farce. But the Tories simply do not care - as long as their rich friends in big houses save their £5 odd a month, then that's them happy. Screw the rest of society, after all, it's not their problem is it, nicely encsonced in their big warm houses and flash cars and three holidays a year.”
by Mr. Sensible, The Real World
Friday, November 06 2009, 11:21AM
“King Biffo, as I like to state my sources, I believe I saw it on the BBC news website yesterday.
Unfortunately this website doesn't allow the posting of links, however, if you go to the BBC news website and search "Councils plan low tax increases" then you should find it.
Good luck!”
by King Biffo, Nottingham
Friday, November 06 2009, 9:53AM
“Actually Mr Sensible I'm not - I'm basing it on the council tax rise being the same as 3% last year. If it was the 1.6% you mention, then the savings to the public would be even LESS when the knock-on effect of subsequent service reduction is taken into account.”
by Mr. Sensible, The Real World
Friday, November 06 2009, 9:25AM
“King Biffo, are you basing those comments on the BBC News report out yesterday, which showed that this year the average Council Tax increase will be around 1.6%; the lowest in 10 years?”
by Mr. Sensible, The Real World
Friday, November 06 2009, 8:54AM
“"Bands A-C save something like £2 a month maximum by my estimation, yet because of the shortfall caused from the freeze, they will have to be stumping up the extra for daycare and care services which will outstrip the meagre savings they would make."
King Biffo, it is, as you say, robbing from the poor to give to the rich.
That is what happens when you get Tories in government.
And I notice that ofstead are concerned about children's services, yet the only sollution is to slash the children's services budget.”
by Mr. Sensible, The Real World
Friday, November 06 2009, 8:51AM
“"These people, and there are many, will be very grateful that this administration is not going to make their lives harder by raising the council tax."
But it will make their lives harder!
By selling off cair homes to Mr Nobody, closing cair centres, and charging extra for the people who rely on the services.
We could scrap these plans tomorrow if they scrapped the unfunded, unfinanced and unaffordable tax freaze, scrapped the very costly pledge to remove the bus plugs, and scrapped what they were doing to their offices.
And David, the only reason why they might have had a "mandate" is that they lied.
How much was the tax freaze going to cost?
How much was removing the bus plugs going to cost?
"improving bus services" was going to cost less than funding the new tram. Or was it? Richard Jackson has now been forced to admit that he lied over that.
If only we knew then what we know now...
This administration lied to buy votes, and now we're all paying the price.”
by King Biffo, Nottingham
Friday, November 06 2009, 8:37AM
“The unfortunate thing is that the poorer people who could do with saving money will not save enough through a council tax freeze to make it actually worth it, because of the inevitable withdrawal of services that accompany such a freeze.
Bands A-C save something like £2 a month maximum by my estimation, yet because of the shortfall caused from the freeze, they will have to be stumping up the extra for daycare and care services which will outstrip the meagre savings they would make.
You have to be in a Band E house and above to make what one could consider to be proper savings, and even then it'll only be a max of just over £5 a month for Band H people. And in the real world, people who can afford these huge houses would probably spend £5 a month on flowers or something.
This is just robbing from the poor to give to the rich.”
by Rob, Nottingham
Friday, November 06 2009, 8:27AM
“People have a choice. Cuts in the budget which mean a tax freeze or cuts. Or ever rising costs with ever rising council tax bills. I would rather that we pay more at the point of need for things than come to rely on the council.
What you can't have is lower tax bills and higher spending/better services.”
by David, Keyworth
Friday, November 06 2009, 8:21AM
“"but it will be interesting to see whether residents think the proposed budget cuts are a price worth paying for the tax freeze".
There are a lot of people struggling to make ends meet at the moment. Single earners such as pensioners who are getting nothing from their savings as interest is so low, people who have been made redundant and are struggling to keep their house. These people, and there are many, will be very grateful that this administration is not going to make their lives harder by raising the council tax.
They were very clear about it at the election so they have the mandate.”