Residents to have say on budget

RESIDENTS in Caerphilly are to be asked for their views on plans which could see council tax increase by 7% next year.

An eight-week consultation will now take place on Caerphilly County Borough Council’s draft budget for the 2020-21 financial year, which includes the tax rise and cuts of £8.49m. Of this, £2m will come from schools’ budgets.

Speaking at a meeting on Wednesday, the council’s interim leader Councillor Barbara Jones said the proposed council tax increase is among the lowest across Wales.

And cabinet member for social care and wellbeing Councillor Carl Cuss said the council was facing increasing costs in its social services budgets of £800,000. These will be met through a one-off contribution from reserves, he said.

“What we are doing in social services is we are looking at this in different ways,” he said. “We are working with partners and looking at national and regional grants.

“We are now into the territory of closing homes. This is not something that I feel is the right thing to do.

“By protecting public services, we will make things better for residents. I want to reassure the public that we are equipped for any pressures coming our way in the next year.”

It is hoped the new initiatives, including the purchasing of a third residential children’s home, the opening of Ty Isaf and the employment of a specialist health visitor, will help cut costs in the future.

Ty Isaf is expected to be fully operational from summer 2020 providing four placements, which will be offered to children placed out of area in the first instance.

The council’s interim chief executive Christina Harrhy said the authority had minimised cuts to frontline services as much as possible.

“Since 2008-09 we have had £150m taken out of our budget,” she said. “We realise it’s a demanding time with more complex needs, especially with social services and education.

“We have a plan called Team Caerphilly. We want to make Caerphilly a better place to live, work and enjoy. Use of digital technology is an area we have to maximise.

“It’s about putting proud back into public services. It’s an exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to the new year because we have an exciting agenda ahead.”

Cllr Jones said it had not been an easy task putting the budget together and considerable uncertainty remained.

The council relies on the Welsh Government’s finance settlement when it comes to budget settling. With uncertainty over Brexit and the recent announcement of the General Election, the provisional details have been delayed from October until Monday, December 16.

In a statement, the minister for finance and trefnydd at the Welsh Government Rebecca Evans said that the pre-election period has changed the timetable.

She said: “I have discussed the implications of this for the timing of the Welsh Government’s budget with the Business and Finance Committees and subject to the agreement of the Business Committee we will defer publication of the Welsh Government’s budget until after the UK General Election.”

The consultation will begin on Monday, although there could be changes when the local government settlement proposals are announced by the Welsh Government.