For the second successive year West Lindsey District Council is set to freeze council tax without any significant impacts on front line services or redundancies. The council’s budget is proposed for approved at a meeting of the full Council on Monday, 5th March 2012.
Conservative Leader of West Lindsey District Council, Cllr. Burt Keimach said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in all the hard work which has been done to help us get where we are today.
“We are in a strong financial position and in the last year we have identified savings of £1 million. This has been achieved by protecting front-line services as well as avoiding redundancies.
“In recognition of the difficulties faced by households we are also freezing council tax for the second year.”
Councillors are expected to take the decision to maintain current council tax levels despite a 25 per cent fall over two years in the district council’s formula grant from the Government of £2.5 million. The council is now preparing for more funding reductions, reforms to welfare and business rates and an increase in demand for services.
Cllr. Keimach said: “Whilst we celebrate this achievement, I want to reassure residents that we are not complacent. We are already working on plans to keep up this momentum and will be developing plans over the coming weeks and months”
West Lindsey District Council has been able to allocate substantial resources to local projects including broadband, housing, growth and investment to help benefit residents.
Chief Executive of West Lindsey District Council, Mrs. Manjeet Gill said: “We decided to treat the current financial climate as an opportunity to re-think our role and become less grant dependent.
“Our Entrepreneurial council model enabled us to get creative about how we defined resources, beyond simply money and how we delivered more for less. This has helped us to deliver amazing results. We would not be in this position today if it was not for the fantastic support of staff, councillors and trade unions.”
Some of the projects proposed within the budget include:
Strategic Housing Projects - £1.1 million has been set aside over three years to address the issues of affordable homes and empty properties.
Some of the money will be used to refurbish homes using renewable technologies to drive down the costs of living for prospective tenants or buyers.
Rural Broadband - The council has committed £555,000 over three years to support the provision of superfast broadband in the district. This is part of a wider scheme across Lincolnshire and is supported by the government.
Localism – The council is supporting communities to help themselves and others and encouraging volunteering as part of our localism programme.
Last month, the council launched two community grant schemes worth £300,000 to support community action. This included £50,000 Olympic and Diamond Jubilee Fund. The Council is working closely with our priority neighbourhoods including the ex-Ministry of Defence communities
Growth and investments – Using our existing resources differently we have earmarked £1.350 million to support growth and investment initiatives.
Disabled Facilities Grant and Independent Living – West Lindsey District Council has teamed up with Lincolnshire County Council and NHS Lincolnshire, to pilot an Integrated Health and Social Care scheme.
By offering greater choice and control to our customers we want to maximise their ability to live independently, moving away from more institutional models, such as residential and day care. This will generate significant savings from doings things differently to reinvest into the service and the outcomes.