Council budget process begins

Councillor Allen Brett

At the meeting of Rochdale Council Cabinet tonight (Monday 14 July) the Council began the budget process to set a balanced budget for the next two financial years 2015/16 and 2016/17.

The Cabinet approved the budget guidelines and timetable to be used in preparing the detailed 2015/16 budget and provisional budgets for 2016/17 and 2017/18.

The Council needs to make £51m of savings over the next two financial years from 1 April 2015. This equates to £37.5m being required in 2015/16 and a further £13.5m in 2016/17.

Councillor Allen Brett, Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “We continue to face huge challenges because of reductions in government funding, whilst facing increased demand for council services.

“The Council has already made £107m of ongoing savings, which has proved extremely difficult. To achieve a further £51m of savings will be a significant challenge and will require some hard decisions to be made in the future.”

“We will be striving to look for ways to reduce spending that has the least impact on essential frontline services.”

A number of key agreements have been made by the Cabinet to take the budget process forward, which includes:

• A council tax freeze in 2015/16
• Provision for a one per cent pay award
• Zero per cent inflation on supplies and services. 

The Council has started to look at timetables and options for achieving the budget and the savings which are needed to get to the position of a legally balanced budget by 11 March 2015.

Other key dates include:

• Proposals to meet the budget gap will be presented to Cabinet on 28 August 2014 
• Consultation on savings options will begin in early September 2014
• Final proposals will go back to the Cabinet in February 2015 for them to recommend a budget to Budget Fixing Council on 24 February 2015