County Budget Cuts (Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats)

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

County Budget Cuts

August 10, 2009 11:00 AM

With the recession deepening, the County Council, like everyone else, clearly needs to be preparing for hard times ahead. Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Zoe Patrick, said in response to a letter from Cllr Mitchell in the Oxford Mail:

"What is most surprising is that Cllr Mitchell did not start to rethink budgets before the June elections. It was only after the elections that the Tories came up with the need to knock an 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. I don't see this as "planning ahead".

"However, 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 savings. The budget cuts that Cllr Mitchell is proposing are just crude percentages across the board.

"We could, for instance, check that no consultants are employed unless there is no-one in-house who could do the job, and this might save large sums. Job losses should be minimized where possible. Very worryingly some posts are already going in youth mentoring, a service which we know provides a vital role in supporting our young people.

"We have consistently said that we need to protect our front line services and take a long look at some of the wastage internally on unnecessary promotional material and the creation of unnecessary posts.

"I am pleased to hear that Cllr Mitchell is now trying to put right the county finances, but he needs to bring the staff and the public with him."