St Helens Council to settle budget as £50m cut looms

2:04pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News

COUNCILLORS are due to meet tonight to settle on a budget that will take the number of jobs shed at the council in the past three years well beyond 1,000.

Town hall bosses are having to balance the books for 2013/2014 after the Government’s austerity programme left them with a £40million reduction in revenue grants compared to 2010.

They also have an eye on next year, when that cut will swell to £50million and say “capital funding available for investment in its highways, schools and other infrastructure has been decimated”.

The budget is expected to bring some good news for hard-pressed families struggling with growing bills.

After increasing council tax last year, the local authority is set to introduce a freeze, which moves to a 0.5per cent reduction because of a drop in charges from the regional waste authority.

However, there are increases in police and fire service precepts.

St Helens Council leader Marie Rimmer has pledged to “prioritise protecting services for the most vulnerable”.

However, it means the axe has fallen on other areas, such as leisure, with Sutton swimming pool being mothballed, and libraries - where there are proposals to reduce opening hours across the town’s network.

Budgets in all town hall departments are being squeezed and many council employees continue to work under the threat of redundancy.

The number of jobs lost since the cuts kicked in stands at 1,034 and are expected to increase by several hundred more.

By this year the council had lost £36m in grants from central government, a further cut of £4.5m is being enforced this year and £9.5m next, meaning by 2014 the council will have £50m less to spend than in 2010.

Despite the huge cuts, the council is expected to invest money from its financial reserves into a number of capital projects, including: These are:

  • £5m on highway and footpath improvements, which the council says will save £300,000 per year in maintenance costs.
  • £1.7m in energy efficient street lighting to reduce the council’s growing electricity costs.
  • £900,000 on graduate and apprenticeship placement schemes along with further support for local businesses and youth employment initiatives.
  • £70,000 for project management of proposed redevelopment of Ruskin Drive

Comments(17)

smith&weston says...
7:00pm Wed 6 Mar 13

'Budgets in all town hall departments are being squeezed and many council employees continue to work under the threat of redundancy.'... unless they are executive heads of the various departments whose £70 grand plus wage packets show no sign of taking any of the strain.

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democracyisdead says...
7:14pm Wed 6 Mar 13

When are we going to see some job losses at the top rather than the bottom? To many chiefs , not enough Indians.
Also am I to take from all this that the cuts Labour would have made had they not LOST the last election , have been sugar coated nice ones that little pixies deliver? and if not would Rimmer still be churning and gurning "cuts" t every opportunity then? Or would she be saying - like Ed that whoever is in power would have difficult decisions to make?? Just a thought !

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Bill Bradbury says...
7:48am Thu 7 Mar 13

In every walk of employment having a "pop" at senior management is a norm but the point of job losses always at the bottom is well made. We could always ask the question to our Clllrs which senior management have fallen on their swords-I suspect none!

As to what politicians say, as a recent pay about Mandy Rice- Davies of the Profumo spy trial, "they would say that wouldn't they?".

It's called politics and politicians,where all party hacks play the same game and why voters get turned off by the rhetoric. Are you surprised?
No increase we should be thankful for small mercies but ny good friend Sankey will be rejoicing in more public sector job losses with the resultant damage to their families.

Democracyis dead, I had a similar conversation with Lesley Spriggs our MP many years ago-two different conversations, one Labour in Office and one when they were out of office. It will ever be so and Dave Watts would be no different as all poliocians are.

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smith&weston says...
7:52am Thu 7 Mar 13

For a decade of Tory rule , Rimmer and her party members complained that they had to increase council tax because they weren't funded enough. Then we had 13 years of New Liebour and surprise, surprise, council tax continued to climb because ' there wasn't enough money " Now we have the coalition and the famiiar cry of not enough funding can once again be heard in the town hall corridors. Seems to be a common denominator here and it begins with R .......

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Sankey says...
9:25am Thu 7 Mar 13

I have sympathy with the ordinary workers losing their jobs at this difficult time and believe me I knw how hard it is at the moment. But councils have been out of control for many years and some of the waste and sending in labours was bordering on criminal. I recall the chief executive of Liverpool city council was paid £500k a year. Under labour the council tax doubled and crippled many families on low incomes for the councis to live the high life. Now we are seeing a small adjustment to sanity but the councils still waste money hand over fist. If indeed they have cut a 1000 staff over the last three years then as a council taxpayer I cannot say I have noticed any appreciable difference in fact I have notced no difference at all. So how can the council make such reductions with no effect ? I suspect much of this outsourcing of staff rather than cutting service and some games are being played here and of course the council was grossly overmanned. Given we have lost such a large volume of the workforce one would expect that there is less for the highly paid executives on the council to do ? So when can we see alignment being made there ? I am not holding my breath

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jumper says...
1:12pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Would it not be better for the council to concentrate on the surveys that are carried out that always puts anti social behaviour as the main problem in the borough.low level asb is the scourge yet they always seems to ignore the problem or pass it off as it is something they can't do anything about yet they have all the powers to do something put never do. The time has come that a labour council is not justsome left wing part of a reformed
Labour Party. They should put into effect the results of the surveys they put forward.
Which will improve all the areas of the town which they say they represent.Let them be open with a monthly report on what they are doing as councillors for all to be seen rather than an obscure report.Having observed some of the wording of statute laws they seem to twist some of the meanings.It appears what the government suggest dosn't resonate with St Helens has laws are interpreted in some other ways .

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Bill Bradbury says...
1:29pm Thu 7 Mar 13

The problem I have wth Cllrs. is that once elected they disappear down into the collective corridors of the Town hall only to emerge again at election time. Jumper a monthly report seems OK by me, most unlikely to happen.

I know that my own Cllrs. deal well with individual complaints but apart from me able to question them at Labour meetings and when I meet them in various bodies or on the street I would like to see them in the columns of the Star or Reporter. I get very lonely on this site trying to defend their policies or their more displaced ones, the Imposed Teacher appraisal being one-(they are really closet Tories adopting Gove's policies?)

Will it be my cynicism or not that as May Elections approach we may see more public activity and accountability from those up for re-election by letters in our local papers. I hope so and they can start with (yet again) what progress is being made with the St.Thomas' site? Pity the Ward Committees/meetings went as it was an opportunity for loal to question their Cllrs.

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anthonywilson says...
5:00pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Bill Bradbury wrote:
The problem I have wth Cllrs. is that once elected they disappear down into the collective corridors of the Town hall only to emerge again at election time. Jumper a monthly report seems OK by me, most unlikely to happen.

I know that my own Cllrs. deal well with individual complaints but apart from me able to question them at Labour meetings and when I meet them in various bodies or on the street I would like to see them in the columns of the Star or Reporter. I get very lonely on this site trying to defend their policies or their more displaced ones, the Imposed Teacher appraisal being one-(they are really closet Tories adopting Gove's policies?)

Will it be my cynicism or not that as May Elections approach we may see more public activity and accountability from those up for re-election by letters in our local papers. I hope so and they can start with (yet again) what progress is being made with the St.Thomas' site? Pity the Ward Committees/meetings went as it was an opportunity for loal to question their Cllrs.
Bill I think the points you make are well made. I accept the fact many councillors are busy dealing with complaints and local issues from constituents.
Sadly communication about what goes on on local government and what work local councillors are doing though is on the whole really poor. None of our elected members produce a monthly report and the only communication we seem to get (if at all) is when electioneering is taking place or wider messages being put in the Star. Only one of the local political parties has an active and up to date local website (and its not the Labour, Conservative or the Lib Dems either) and very few of the councillors blog or use social media extensively. Admittedly a small number do put messages on Twitter etc but they are a very small minority. The "councillors on line" part of the St Helens Council website is totally out of date and with no recent posts or updates. Some of the pages show councillors who left office nearly a year ago! Other towns and cities are well ahead of the game in terms of keeping things up to date in this respect and with councillors who are more communicative.
Is it any wonder that people vote less and less if those representing us don't engage in the way in which they should. Have some of them even heard of Facebook and Social media? I also agree with you about the ward committees. Although they were not always universally well attended, the level of public dialogue at the moment with councillors and other agencies at times is nill.

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jumper says...
6:09pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Represent the interests of your ward, deal with constituents’ enquiries and representations and hold ward surgeries on a regular basis. You should be visible in and recognisable to your community;that is part of a councilor's role,

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Mike_a80 says...
7:33pm Thu 7 Mar 13

I agree with above in terms of reporting a simple set of Key Performance Indicators that are monitored monthly would be a good start, just like a normal business does!

As for budget cuts, why do we only ever get negative press and comments from the council? The industry I work in has required significant cuts year on year and whilst it has been painful, through cutting beauracracy, doing things smarter we are actualy doing more with less and with a flat management structure.

I have tried searching, but can anyone on here provide details on how many levels of management are within the council from top to bottom? As this could be an area of considerable cost savings without affecting front line service delivery.

Other areas to consider; travel and expenses budget, spend on consultancy etc. Does the Mayor need a car and assistant? Could we do without a Mayor? Did the mooted shared service centre for all the Merseyside councils ever get off the ground?

Now is the time for radical thinking and action not political point scoring.

Perhaps a team of St Helens leading Businessmen could form an advisory committee to offer free non politicised advice!

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Sankey says...
10:20pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Mike_a80 wrote:
I agree with above in terms of reporting a simple set of Key Performance Indicators that are monitored monthly would be a good start, just like a normal business does!

As for budget cuts, why do we only ever get negative press and comments from the council? The industry I work in has required significant cuts year on year and whilst it has been painful, through cutting beauracracy, doing things smarter we are actualy doing more with less and with a flat management structure.

I have tried searching, but can anyone on here provide details on how many levels of management are within the council from top to bottom? As this could be an area of considerable cost savings without affecting front line service delivery.

Other areas to consider; travel and expenses budget, spend on consultancy etc. Does the Mayor need a car and assistant? Could we do without a Mayor? Did the mooted shared service centre for all the Merseyside councils ever get off the ground?

Now is the time for radical thinking and action not political point scoring.

Perhaps a team of St Helens leading Businessmen could form an advisory committee to offer free non politicised advice!
I have been saying that for years mike. If a business has financial constraints they manage it. There are many things a council could do to reform. It seems to me this financial situation is here for good now. The council must adapt to these circumstances. Marie Rimmer whining about cuts won't change the situation. The councis were grossly overfunded anyway in the past which is why they are sitting on big war chests today.

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jumper says...
8:45am Fri 8 Mar 13

Bill when they tell you one thing, agree with you and then do nothing that remotely represents anything near what you have discussed, and that goes for council staff as well, how can you have any confidence in a system that says it is for the people

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democracyisdead says...
10:16am Fri 8 Mar 13

St Helens council is for the people - the people of Moss bank , Parr and Thatto heath. If you like in Eccleston Park , Rainhill or Rainford , they are barely aware of your existence - apart from when collecting your council tax.

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jumper says...
11:07pm Sat 9 Mar 13

Interest shown on these type of these types of letters or news shows why some might think that it is like the proverbial brick wall which is a shame for some and a happy outcome for others. If we get a council tax audit delivered we should also be given a postal ballot form and a report of what is being done or not, it may persuade more to take interest to vote.

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MrBenggo says...
4:00pm Tue 12 Mar 13

I remember when the Torries were last in power and Dave Watts saying "if St Helens received the same grant as Westminster,each man woman and child in the borough would get £123 back".
The Labour government came and went and I am still waiting for my money.

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democracyisdead says...
8:03pm Tue 12 Mar 13

Exactly.

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jumper says...
8:37pm Tue 12 Mar 13

You're right and the next full party meeting they should look at what's happening and do something or tell us why,and we don't need thatcher problems lets make some progress and try and release a bit of dogma.

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