Tell us where county’s new council should focus spending
Let’s Talk... about your priorities for North Yorkshire finances
The biggest overhaul of local democracy in nearly half a century will help to temper the greatest financial challenges to provide key public services, North Yorkshire County Council’s leader has claimed.
Unprecedented challenges have placed the council’s budgets under intense pressure amid soaring inflation, as well as uncertainty over the amount of funding from the Government.
The county council’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, has said the budget for the new North Yorkshire Council, which will launch on April 1 with the merger of the county council and the seven district and borough authorities, will prove to be the most challenging he has seen.
As part of our countywide Let’s Talk conversation, a consultation is under way to glean the public’s views on the new council’s financial priorities.
Cllr Les, who will lead the new council, said: “North Yorkshire County Council, like all local authorities across the country, has faced significant financial challenges throughout the past decade to ensure that we can continue to provide key services to the hundreds of thousands of people who live and work here.
“However, these challenges for the forthcoming financial year are the greatest I have ever known, caused by a succession of issues that, taken in isolation, would present significant problems in themselves.
“We have launched the consultation to give the public the chance to highlight what they believe are the financial priorities on which the new council should focus. It is so important that we hear those views to help us form the budget for the authority.”
In the consultation, people are asked which services they feel are most important, what they think about council tax and their ideas for savings.
The Let’s Talk Money conversation runs until December 23. It also highlights plans to make the base rate of council tax the same across North Yorkshire and proposed changes to council tax for second homes.