Councillors have unanimously approved a budget for next year with no increase in West Lindsey’s share of the council tax bill.

This puts us squarely in line with the county council, which has also elected to impose a freeze in 2012/13.

It was just a year ago that West Lindsey District Council was left staggered by the extent and depth of the cuts imposed by the Coalition Government through the Comprehensive Spending Review. 

We are now in recovery mode. We now aim to move from that sticky situation into a position where we are perhaps the financially most healthy council of our size in the UK.

Last year our Formula Grant, the cash we get from Central Government, was £8.7 million.  It has now been reduced by nearly 25% to just £5.7 million. 

This was a heavy hit, but we are still managing to deliver all our services, and equally importantly have not had to make any employees redundant.

For not raising taxes, we are being “rewarded” with a grant of £144,000.  A paltry sum you might conclude.  But reflect that we do not owe money, and have a healthy reserve, as required by the Finance Act, of £5.5milllion, with our reserves for specific purposes at about the same amount.

We have just announced the establishment of a £50,000 fund for Olympics and Diamond Jubilee celebrations across the district alongside a £250,000 fund for community grants. Shortly we shall be able to inform you of the details of a much larger amount, £1.2 million, which is almost ready for disbursement for developing community assets.

Another area where we have had some success is in the steady return of funds invested in the Icelandic banks.  Our preferred creditor status means that we will secure the vast majority of our deposits, and to date we have received over £2.5 million.

Yet another happy area has been the increase in the New Home Bonus Grant from last year’s £462,000, to £800,000 for the coming financial year. It is intended to use the monies to support housing related projects within the district.

To balance this budget we will be delivering in the coming year over a £1million in efficiencies and additional income.  For example, we have saved £185,000 in our waste collection area, and realised an important £75,000 economy in the way we internally have converted to “paperless” working.

We are in partnership with the county council to bring in super-fast broadband; participating in the core planning strategy a 20 year plan for homes, jobs and infrastructure; and we will be continuing with the regeneration of important parts of central Gainsborough, together with setting up neighbourhood forums across the whole of West Lindsey District Council.

We hope you will agree that we are applying the right measures in a time of austerity.  After all, who wants to keep spending our national wealth at a rate of £120 million per day on servicing the interest on the national debt?