Swindon Borough Council's Cabinet will next week be asked to approve a Council Tax increase of 4.99 percent.
As with other annual increases in recent years, the rise is the maximum which can be enforced without putting the matter to a public vote.
The Cabinet, due to meet on Wednesday 7 February, will be asked to approve a Swindon Borough Council 2024/25 Budget of £178,859,900.
The council's Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Kevin Small, said at a Civic Offices briefing that when the administration took over, it faced a predicted overspend of some £15m, which it had so far managed to drag down to £614,000 thanks to a series of efficiency measures including not filling certain posts.
The Cabinet meeting comes weeks after the Local Government Association described the council's finances as being "...on a cliff edge" and also amid nationwide concern about the state of local government finances.
Several councils have declared themselves effectively bankrupt, generally citing a combination of spiralling costs - particularly in adults' and children's social care - and a lack of adequate funding from central Government.
Speaking of the money-saving measures the council has brought to bear, and of efforts to balance the Budget, Cllr Small said: "It's not been easy to get to this figure. As a Labour councillor, when I stand up to present this budget I will take no pleasure whatsoever, because it's not what I was sent into local government to do.
"I was sent into local government to provide services for the people and what we're seeing again and again is services either stripped or put under extreme pressure, but we have a duty to provide a balanced budget and we have done that.
"We must do our best to ensure that the budget is delivered for the people of Swindon next year."
Cllr Small said the Revenue Support Grant from the Government amounted to about three percent of the total Budget and added: "I would reiterate what I have said before, which is that prior to 2010 at least 50 percent of our Budget was provided by the support grant, and we have seen during the Austerity years local government finances totally obliterated."
Council leader Cllr Jim Robbins, who was also present at the briefing, pointed out that the vast bulk of the budget was spent on social care, that the council was doing its utmost to protect the most vulnerable, and that it was increasingly difficult to achieved what it wished with the remainder.
The Cabinet, due to meet on Wednesday 7 February, will be asked to approve a Swindon Borough Council 2024/25 Budget of £178,859,900.
The council's Cabinet Member for Finance, Cllr Kevin Small, said at a Civic Offices briefing that when the administration took over, it faced a predicted overspend of some £15m, which it had so far managed to drag down to £614,000 thanks to a series of efficiency measures including not filling certain posts.
The Cabinet meeting comes weeks after the Local Government Association described the council's finances as being "...on a cliff edge" and also amid nationwide concern about the state of local government finances.
Several councils have declared themselves effectively bankrupt, generally citing a combination of spiralling costs - particularly in adults' and children's social care - and a lack of adequate funding from central Government.
Speaking of the money-saving measures the council has brought to bear, and of efforts to balance the Budget, Cllr Small said: "It's not been easy to get to this figure. As a Labour councillor, when I stand up to present this budget I will take no pleasure whatsoever, because it's not what I was sent into local government to do.
"I was sent into local government to provide services for the people and what we're seeing again and again is services either stripped or put under extreme pressure, but we have a duty to provide a balanced budget and we have done that.
"We must do our best to ensure that the budget is delivered for the people of Swindon next year."
Cllr Small said the Revenue Support Grant from the Government amounted to about three percent of the total Budget and added: "I would reiterate what I have said before, which is that prior to 2010 at least 50 percent of our Budget was provided by the support grant, and we have seen during the Austerity years local government finances totally obliterated."
Council leader Cllr Jim Robbins, who was also present at the briefing, pointed out that the vast bulk of the budget was spent on social care, that the council was doing its utmost to protect the most vulnerable, and that it was increasingly difficult to achieved what it wished with the remainder.
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