People have been left "traumatised" by potential cuts to services as Wirral Council revealed how it plans to fill its £32m budget gap.
As the local authority unveiled how it intends to tackle its financial deficit, Cllr Pat Cleary, leader of the borough's Green Party group, said talk of cuts that were "never likely to happen" were "unfair on the public."
Among the measures includes a council tax increase of 5%. Chief Finance Officer Matthew Bennett said that if the council tax was not part of the budget, cuts would have to be made to libraries, leisure centres and youth groups instead.
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The proposals will be debated at the council’s Policy and Resources committee and all parties are involved in the budget setting process. As no party has a majority, this means Labour, Wirral’s largest group, has to get support from others to pass a budget.
Cllr Janette Williamson, Wirral’s Labour leader, said: “We are proud to present this Labour-led budget. In a hung council, that is no easy thing and we hope other parties will work constructively in the best interests of everyone in the borough.
“This is a fully costed, legal budget, which will save the services residents value. It comes with a backdrop of drastic cuts imposed on us by the Conservative government, and their spiralling cost-of-living emergency.
“Of every pound we had to spend in 2010, we now have around 40p. So, we can’t have everything we would like, and every penny has to work harder. However, we are determined to deliver value for money for our residents.”
Green leader Cllr Cleary said while he was "pleased" with the proposals, “many people have been traumatised by potential cuts to services that were never likely to happen. This is not fair on the public.” He also said he still had some issues with cuts to recycling campaign budgets.
In September, Cllr Cleary had accused Cllr Williamson of “deliberately painting a worst case scenario” when the council’s budget was projected to go over by £49m.
Cllr Tom Anderson, leader of the Conservatives group, said: “Wirral Council is set to receive £360 million to spend in the next financial year. Conservative councillors are clear, we will be arguing that front line services – the ones that we all use and rely on – are not the optional extras but the starting point of what any council should be providing.
“It's outrageous that after years and years of financial mismanagement by Labour councillors, back-office costs, consultant fees and the Council’s 30 top senior officers being paid £3 million between them, carry on unchecked.”
Phil Gilchrist, leader of the Liberal Democrats, was more supportive. He said: “Our focus has been on finding the least damaging savings with damaging savings in the youth service, further library closures, dismantling our leisure facilities, cuts in cleaning Wirral and caring for our parks are being kicked out. No-one wants savings on these lines.”
“There are also underlying issues, like the state of our roads and pavements, which always need tackling.”
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