Council finds extra cash for services despite £16m cuts
POTHOLES will be fixed, a youth fund set up and town centres will be spruced up – despite another round of brutal cuts and council tax increases.
Millions have been wiped from the books at Rochdale council this year, but leaders have dug deep and found extra cash to help residents.
Politicians insist they won’t ‘roll over’ and let services crumble in the face of continuing austerity cuts - and a few rabbits were pulled out of the hat as Rochdale’s budget was set on Wednesday night.
Councillors agreed £16m cuts and a 4.99 per cent council tax rise for 2017/18 and council leader Richard Farnell announced an extra £2m to fix potholes.
As The Observer has reported councillors also agreed a to 34 per cent rise in their allowances, despite protests from trade unions the Lib Dems, who handed in a 1,600 signature petition against the move.
Coun Farnell also vowed to scrap charges of up to £50 for replacement wheelie bins and put £1.5m into sprucing up the town, cleaning the streets and parks, saying he wanted residents to ‘feel good’ about the town.
He also announced plans to give those leaving care a 100 per cent council tax discount until they’re 21.
A £3m youth fund will be set up, using cash from Rochdale’s share of the annual Manchester Airport dividend.
That cash is usually put into the coffers to offset budget cuts, but council bosses wanted to ‘do something special with it’ for a change.
The town’s youth parliament - made up of elected teenagers - will be asked how it wants to spend the cash.
Ideas include giving students a grant to support their college studies and free bus passes for teenagers.
Coun Farnell also plans to set aside up to 2,000 jobs a year for locals, with care, street cleaning and administration roles among those going specifically to residents.
He said: “We could just roll over and take the cuts. But we’ve really gone into the budget and found this money to help people. We’re determined to make Rochdale great again.”
Lib Dem leader Andy Kelly put forward an alternative budget proposing a freezing councillors’ allowances, ‘getting to grips with staff absence’, scrapping assistant cabinet posts and reducing the size of the cabinet.
The Conservatives’ alternative budget plans, put forward by Coun Ashley Dearnley, also included a reduction in the number of cabinet and assistant cabinet posts, scrapping of £79,000 of trade union post subsidies and axing ‘councillors teas’.