Key issues on agenda as budget D-Day looms

COUNCIL budgets — to many they may look like jargon and a load of numbers, but they affect us all.

Over the coming weeks, the Welsh Assembly and local authorities will be finalising theirs before the new financial year starts in April.

For finance officers, ministers and cabinet members, it is a tough task, as the Tory-Lib Dem government in Westminster has cut public spending by billions in an attempt to pay off Britain's debts.

Councils are now having to shave millions off their budgets, while costs continue to rise and in Swansea there is a �16.4 million funding gap, so whatever happens, it will affect you.

Councillor Stuart Rice, Swansea cabinet member for finance, said: "In layman's terms it will affect everyone because it's the money we give to services people use.

"Anything from rubbish collections to money given to schools and looking after elderly people. It's not just about savings, it will also affect what charges we make and how we set the council tax.

"As a council, however, we've tried to prioritise frontline services."

The council decided last year three key areas would be of the highest priority: direct pupil services; vulnerable people; and street scene.

Education and social services come under that umbrella and are universally important, but they do not affect everybody, particularly younger people who have no relatives needing social care and no children, or adults with grown-up children.

Street scene does affect us all. It also affects how other people see Swansea when they visit.

However, even though these three have been earmarked as priorities, no one department will be free from making efficiency savings. Some of these efficiencies have already come into force and will give citizens in Swansea a taste of what is to come.

For example, In some areas, one in three street lights have been turned off, and on some main routes, such as the Morriston bypass, lights have been turned off altogether, apart from at junctions.

Changes you can more than likely expect to see when the budget is finalised include new car parking charges, further changes to street lighting, reductions in bus subsidies, the removal of the out-of-hours animal and pest control services and reductions in CCTV coverage.

Culture and leisure will be two of the most affected areas in public spending cuts.

However, the administration says its seeking to make changes to the way they are run in order to protect them.

These include looking at outsourcing leisure either to a trust or a private company.

There will also be changes within the council, with savings of more than �3.3 million in management, supervision and administration.

Some savings will be made by, as organisations often put it, "rationalisation", which means making services as efficient and streamlined as possible, others will be made through making small administrative changes.

However, job losses are also expected, and in a city where almost 40 per cent of the population relies on public sector employment, this is a huge concern.

In total, the savings the council is basing its calculations on come to �12.38 million, so more needs to be done before a final list of savings is presented to cabinet members and councillors in February.

helen.keates@swwmedia.co.uk

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503366/s/11c24c59/l/0L0Sthisissouthwales0O0Cnews0CKey0Eissues0Eagenda0Ebudget0ED0EDay0Elooms0Carticle0E3110A7760Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

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