Nottingham City Council has been forced to slash a further £5.3m from its budget after a large chunk of central government funding was axed.
The already cash-strapped authority has had to reduce its 2015/16 budget by £27.1m and outlined £21.8m of these reductions last month.
It has now identified the final £5.3m worth of cuts needed to meet the shortfall, a task that the authority’s deputy leader has described as ‘squeezing the last drops of efficiencies from services’.
Major changes to services are now expected in the next few years.
“Next year, we will have no option but to make much more fundamental changes which will have more significant negative impacts on local people,” added Councillor Graham Chapman, deputy leader.
Bad deal
“Implementing these savings is bad enough, but when it’s in the knowledge that Nottingham has been dealt a much worse hand by the Government than places which need less financial support, it’s hard not to be angered by the unfairness of it.”
Residents are being asked to have their say on the budget proposals before councillors make their final decisions at a full council meeting on Monday, March 9.
“…it’s hard not to be angered by the unfairness of it.”
The current budget-reducing proposals include a Council Tax increase of 1.95 per cent, a reduction in the authority’s workforce and a variety of wide service reductions.
