£3m cuts to services
Bath and North East Somerset Council is preparing to make some tough decisions as it looks to reduce frontline services costs by £3 million over the next three years.
The authority is drawing up its plans for the 2013/14 budget and once again has warned that the outlook is "challenging" with many difficult decisions to be made.
However, it has reassured residents that it is in a relatively strong position compared to others across the country and has pledged to keep council tax bills as low as possible.
Councillor David Bellotti, cabinet member for community resources, said the council would be doing everything it could to protect the most important services.
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He said: "Although the budget outlook is very challenging, B&NES is in a better position than many other local authorities because we have an excellent track record of balancing our budgets, made back office savings of more than £25 million over recent years, and built up a strong level of financial reserves.
"We are likely to have to make frontline service reductions of about £3 million on average over the next three years to make our budgets balance, which is equivalent to about 1.3 per cent of our total budget.
"Although this figure is quite small, there could be a significant impact on some individual services. Whilst keeping council tax as low as possible, we will be doing as much as possible to protect essential frontline services, particularly for the most vulnerable people in society."
Ideas will be put before a full council meeting on February 19. Potential savings include introducing entry fees at the Victoria Art Gallery and more car parking charges.
To comment on the budget visit www.bathnes.gov.uk/ budgetview or write to Resources Team, 3rd Floor, Guildhall, Bath BA1 5AW.
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