By Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey
If you had to choose how the Council spent its money, what would you do differently?
Currently, nearly 70% of our Council’s money is spent on things that we are required to do by law.
While there is some savings to be made in these areas, mainly by improving efficiency, we cannot stop looking after disabled adults, children in care, transporting children to school, collecting rubbish and clearing litter, fixing potholes and keeping our roads working.
So, on top of this, inflation stays stubbornly high and firmly over 6% and Council Tax can only increase by 4.99%.
There is an increasing demand for the services that the Council offers, so no matter what happens, we must make saving and find other ways to raise income in order to cover the shortfall.
Over the next couple of months, Wokingham Borough Council is reviewing and setting its budget for next year. It is the responsibility for all Councillors to produce a balanced budget and we do this through several meetings where the budgets for different areas are put before the committee.
The Councillors can ask the Executive Members and Senior Officers questions about the proposed spending levels in these areas.
Members of the public can attend or watch the meeting online and are welcome to submit questions to these committees. We like the questions that we get, as they inspire both Councillors and Officers to look at things differently and offer more detailed explanations.
I am aware that there is a lot of mis-information and rumour going around and sadly it is usually negative. All potential changes to our services have to be reviewed via our committee system and are often accompanied by public consultation.
This is to ensure that we fully understand all of the impacts.
As a result, sometimes things are changed for the better or sometimes the negative impact is too great that they do not proceed at all.
Either way, it is essential that all perspectives are included, all angles are explored and the full case of evidence is presented.
As a Council, we have limited options to increase our income. We do get a small government grant from Central Government, but that has not increased with inflation and Wokingham Borough Council gets the lowest in the Country compared to other similar Councils.
The one thing we can be clear about is, that we are not alone with this problem. All of our public services are struggling as they are being hit by inflation and increasing costs, while income levels are decreasing.
The blame for the decline in our public services has to lay squarely with our government. This is affecting the NHS, Policing, the Fire and Rescue Service and well as local Councils who provide necessary services to the citizens of this country.
We are being told by MPs to ‘tighten our belts’ and that there is no more money, but the government is expecting us to take on more and more without giving us enough money to do so and all other costs are rising.
It is no wonder that so many Councils are running in to serious trouble.
At the moment, that is not Wokingham Borough Council, but it is certainly not realistic for us to carry on just as we were. Things will have to change.
Cllr Imogen Shepherd-DuBey is the executive member for Finance on Wokingham Borough Council and ward member for Emmbrook
