Rother seek service cuts to limit council tax hike

The ploy, later in Monday's cabinet debate reduced to 45,000, is an alternative to raiding the council's balances.

Together with cuts in some growth items, income from increased charges and other measures, officers who did swift calculations during the coffee break believe the projected 7.49% increase (9.24 a year on a mid-range Band D home) on the present 123.44 Rother element of the total Council Tax bill could be brought down to 5.9% (7.28).

The figures do not take account of the 688,967 that Bexhill residents will pay in special expenses charge for local services in the coming year, the 723,554 Rye will pay or rural Rother's payments to parish councils.

The projected increase is still above the Government's 5% ceiling but to achieve that would mean slashing a further 40,000.

Introducing the budget debate, the leader used a flip chart to remind members that Rother's is still the lowest Council Tax in East Sussex.

Other East Sussex figures were:

Wealden: present 138.03 will rise 3.5% to 142.86

Lewes: present 153 will rise 5% to 161.60

Eastbourne: present 190.20 will rise 2.5% to 194.60

Hastings: present 196.44 will rise 3.78 to 203.86

Advising colleagues to concentrate on cash terms in view of this low base, not percentages, the leader added ruefully in view of last year's Ministerial threat of capping: "Don't worry about percentages - although we have to keep them in mind or that nice Mr Raynsford who invited me up last year to talk about capping will ask to see me again....!"

Members worked through page after page of budget figures seeking savings wherever possible.

At the end of the process, the leader said: "I think it is important as a cabinet that we set staff an additional challenge.

"I want the officers to look at finding efficiency savings of 50,000 - that's more than 1% of Council Tax.

"We know from the work that the budget board and the scrutiny committees have done that this will not be easy but there is no way that a Council Tax increase of more than 7% will be acceptable."

Cllr Stuart Earl said: "I think that 50,000 is a pretty good challenge. I think that we will be going on for the next few years looking for savings and we cannot have any growth."

There was no room whatever for any investment in the future.

When director of services Tony Leonard said that members would have to accept that there would be a continual reduction in services, the leader said: "I think members do accept that. I think it is a question of the public accepting it."

Rother was getting significantly less settlement from the Government and was having to bear the cost of meeting the targets for expensive government measures such as licensing and waste recycling.

"It is all very well for people to say 'Don't meet the target...' but if we don't the government will just withdraw settlement and set another council to control us."

He wound-up the debate by adding: "I think also that we need to be aware that the next two or three years are going to be incredibly tough."