Budget Cuts - Bit Late? (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats <info@oxfordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Budget Cuts - Bit Late?

July 27, 2009 12:00 AM
By Cllr Jean Fooks

With the recession deepening, the County Council, like everyone else, clearly needs to be preparing for hard times ahead.

What is surprising is that Cllr Mitchell did not start to rethink budgets before the June elections. Only after the elections did the Tories come up with the need to knock a eyewatering extra £60m off the County budget over the next five years, yet the situation had been steadily deteriorating since February, when the budget was set.

This should surely be a time to work together, both cross-party and with County Council staff. There appears to have been no corporate review to see if council-wide savings could be made before allocating individual directorate cuts. The budget cuts that Cllr Mitchell is proposing are crude percentages across the board; so much for his assurances that key front line services, such as those for vulnerable and at-risk children, will be protected.

Checking that no consultants are employed unless there is no-one in-house who could do the job , with extra training where needed, might save large sums. Job losses should be minimized; very worryingly some posts are already going in youth mentoring . There has been no prior public discussion. I hope this will not set the pattern for the rest of the cuts.

We will be doing our best to prevent the Conservatives cutting vital services for residents.