That is the message to York’s Labour administration from opposition Liberal Democrat councillors as they prepare to unveil their own ‘alternative budget’ this week.
Labour is proposing to slash more than £14 million from council spending in the next financial year beginning in April, as it struggles to plug what it calls a £40 million ‘black hole’ in the authority’s finances over the next four years.
It’s budget proposals, which will be debated at a special budget meeting on February 22, include a range of cuts and increased charges, including:
- slashing £300,000 off the contractually-agreed funding for Explore York Libraries and Archives in each of the next two years
- charging households a £46.50 per bin per year ‘subscription service’ for green bins to be emptied – a measure the Lib Dems describe as a ‘green bin tax’
- increasing parking charges in the city by 30p an hour – with the all-day charge raised to £20
- scrapping social work cover in York Hospital at weekends, and reviewing other services offered in partnership with the NHS and with voluntary and community services.
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But York’s Lib Dems today described Labour’s budget proposals as ‘more Tory than the Tories’.
And they said many of the deepest cuts were unnecessary.
The Lib Dems own draft ‘alternative budget’ proposals, which will be formally announced this week, would reverse more than £4 million of Labour’s proposed cuts.
Lib Dem opposition leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said under their budget there would be NO cuts to library funding and NO green bin tax.
The Lib Dem budget would also reverse the plans to cut social worker support at York Hospital over the weekends (a measure they say would only add to bed blocking at the hospital); and it would reverse threatened funding cuts to community projects run by organisations like Age UK, York Mind, Changing Lives and the Wilberforce Trust.
The Liberal Democrats say they would also restore funding for the Salvation Army’s early intervention rough sleeping programme – Labour decided last September not to continue funding he Salvation Army contract.
The Lib Dems insist their ‘alternative budget’ is carefully costed, and approved as sound by council finance officers.
They would make use of an extra £1.6million just announced for York by Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove to help reduce the need for cuts. The money is earmarked specifically for adult social care and intended to ensure the council can ‘avoid the worst of cuts this year’, Cllr Ayre said.
The Lib Dems have also found alternative budget savings elsewhere – including reducing spending on council comms, downgrading some top council roles, drawing on reserves, and reducing IT and admin budgets.
In all, this would mean their alternative budget would reverse £4 million of Labour’s planned cuts, they say.
Cllr Ayre claimed Labour’s budget proposals were in part ideological, and in part political – the pain the cuts would bring designed with half an eye on this year’s general election.
But he said that, with both a general election and the election of York and North Yorkshire’s first-ever Mayor coming up this year, the economic and political situation was likely to change a great deal during the course of the year – rendering deep budget cuts now unnecessary.
He said: “We are elected to do what’s best for the people of York, and these cuts are not necessary at this time.”
If the worst came to the worst and cuts needed to be considered in a year’s time, then so be it, he said. “But at least then we could put a cross-party working group on it, and make some proper decisions.”
Cllr Paula Widdowson, the Lib Dem deputy leader, added: “This budget from Labour is more Tory than the Tories. It is uncaring – and it is financially unsound.”
But Labour’s executive member for finance Cllr Katie Lomas said the Lib Dems’ approach to setting budgets was ‘reckless’.
She said: “When you continue using one-off money to fund permanent services it’s quite clear where that will take the council; to effective bankruptcy. This kind of approach to setting a budget is what’s contributed to the mess the council is now in. It’s the short-term budget of a political party who instead of steering the ship into calmer waters is accelerating full speed into the rocks.
“Liberal Democrats have prepared a budget knowing they’re not running the council and will never have to implement it.”
Lib Dem alternative budget plans at a glance
The Lib Dem alternative budget plans expected to be formally announced later this week include:
- NO cuts to library funding
- NO ‘green bin tax’
- Reverse plans to scrap weekend social worker support at York Hospital
- Reverse plans to cut £591,000 from early intervention programmes designed to help older and vulnerable people live in their own homes
- Reverse planned £369,000 cut in adult social care grants
- Restore funding for Salvation Army’s early-intervention rough sleeping programme.
These changes would be paid for by:
- Making use of extra £1.6m of funding just announced by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove
- Use of £696,000 of public health funding held in reserve
- Cutting one council comms post
- Not recruiting to a vacant assistant director post, and other changes to senior council posts
- A five per cent reduction in council IT staff and doubling agreed savings on IT management.
The Lib Dems are expected to finalise their alternative budget later this week, and will present it as an amendment to the ruling Labour administration’s official budget proposal at the council budget meeting on February 22.
