WC publishes budget proposals

8.38.00am GMT Thu 28th Jan 2010

Council Tax payers in Wiltshire will have to fork out up to 2.5% extra to pay for the new Wiltshire Council (WC). The Band D rate across the county will be £1,222.43.

For ratepayers in West Wilts the percentage rise will be slightly less because they paid a higher rate than the other districts last year.

Cuts or 'efficiency savings' will be made across the council in an attempt to balance the books. Grants to the voluntary sector will be frozen at last year's levels. Areas picked out specifically for real-terms cuts are environmental health, trading standards, footpaths maintenance, road safety and planning. The council will borrow money to spend on roads in reaction to complaints about the state of the highways.

The Council Tax increase will fund a contribution to reserves of about £4million. The council claims this is needed because of the expected cuts in government grants in years to come.

In doing the sums the council has estimated a pay rise of 0.5% for staff and an inflation rate of 0.75%.

The council is still optimistic about getting back some of the money put into Icelandic banks, estimating losses to be £2.3million of the £12m invested.

Government policy could hit the council in other ways - the possible introduction of free personal care for the elderly could be very expensive, as could the abolition of the Learning and Skills Council and the switch of responsibility for 16 - 18 education back to the council.

The final decision on the budget will be made at the council meeting on February 23rd.