Council cash crisis could hit schools and tax bills

THE future of primary schools with fewer than 120 pupils has been thrown into doubt and residents face eyewatering tax hikes as a new report highlights the grave financial problems facing Anglesey council.

Leisure centres and Oriel Ynys Môn could also be handed over to external companies as the cash flowing in from Cardiff Bay continues to dwindle, with the future of sixth-form provision at Anglesey’s secondary schools also set to come under the microscope.

Since the UK Government implemented its austerity programme in 2010, the spending on local government in Wales has fallen by 18%, with a further 1% cut expected next year.

As a result, Anglesey faces having to shave a further £9.34m from its budget over the next three years. A document presented to the executive this week will discuss Anglesey’s medium term financial plan for 2019/20 to 2021/22 - shedding light on the scale of the authority’s financial woes with a stark warning that “difficult and unpopular decisions will have to be taken”.

By the end of the financial year in March 2019, a total overspend of £1.744m is projected, which follows a similar overspend of £1.762m for 2017/18 – representing more than 1% of the council’s £130m budget.

The main offender is the under-fire children’s service, which is forecast to finish the year £1.28m in the red after also posting an overspend of £1.78m last year. The council’s reserves are expected to dwindle to just £4.75m by the end of the year – well below the recommended minimum balance of £6.5m.

In a bid to ease the financial pressure, officers are warning islanders to expect further council tax rises, with the possibility that bills could increase by more than 5% a year. This, however, would breach the Welsh Government’s informal 5% cap on annual council tax rises.

Despite several public toilets, heritage assets and car parks having already been moved off the council’s books to community councils and volunteer groups, the report warns that this will continue to happen, with mooted services including leisure centres and the Oriel Ynys Môn art gallery and museum on the outskirts of Llangefni.

If the authority decides to go down this route, it would follow the example of neighbouring Gwynedd, which is already setting up an arms-length company to run the county’s 12 leisure centres in a bid to save £585,000 a year. Despite acknowledging the unpopularity of shutting smaller rural schools, officers in Anglesey warn that all schools with fewer than 120 pupils could be under threat of mergers as the authority battles to bring down the average spend per child. The future of at least one of the island’s secondary schools and/or sixth form provision will also be under the microscope, although officers admit that “strong resistance from communities and members” may remain a barrier.

While all five secondary schools provide their own sixth form, this is not the case in some parts of north Wales, including parts of Gwynedd where post-16 education is provided by Grwp Llandrillo Menai, mainly via its Coleg Meirion Dwyfor campuses. A further emphasis on extra care facilities is also expected, with an admission that the council may not provide any traditional residential care facilities at all in future, instead buying places on a case-by-case basis from private homes. The report says: “The future funding of local government in Wales is very uncertain.

“Even if the Welsh Government releases additional funds for local government, it is unlikely that any increase will be sufficient to bridge the funding gap. Significant cuts to budgets will still need to take place over the next three years. The budget cuts will have to come from changes in the way the council delivers services and a reduction in the services it delivers.”