Cuts to public services would be “an absolute disaster” that are causing “intensely painful feelings", councillors have warned.
In the next four months, the city council has to find ways to plug a £73m funding shortfall, with warnings of service cuts and job losses on the horizon. A document outlining where savings could be made was published by the local authority last month.
The proposals went through the latest round of scrutiny during a meeting of the finance and resources select committee as councillors had their say on how to fill the blackhole. Among the possibilities is a reduction in discretionary welfare support schemes, such as its benefits maximisation service and Liverpool Citizens Support Scheme.
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Addressing the committee, Mayor Joanne Anderson said the Labour group was "incredibly proud" of its track record of supporting people and is saddened that the discretionary welfare support schemes have to be considered for savings. A review is also being considered of the council’s One Stop Shops, which could save the council £800,000 each year for the next three years.
This was something the authority should "reflect on this, look again and look elsewhere” according to Cllr William Shortall, Old Swan ward member, who said vulnerable residents need to be able to access face-to-face service. He added how “the service is 10 times more valuable than the savings it would make” and felt the city is "rushing in a little bit" and he wants to be able to build on the structure the system has, not "reduce things down.”
A cut of the benefits maximisation service by the council would be the "nuclear option" according to Cllr Shortall who said to do so would be "a big mistake, a big no no for me". Losing the service would represent "an absolute disaster," he said.
Setting out the council's position amid the national picture, Cllr Paul Brant, assistant mayor with responsibility for finance, said if the government provides a decent settlement later this month, it hopes to be able to decide "which of the proposals we don't have to take forward." Mayor Anderson said services that protect the most vulnerable are "absolutely the priority, top of the list" should the city get any more funding from Whitehall.
She added: "Nobody here wants to make cuts to services that are so vital." Croxteth councillor Peter Mitchell said the budget is "utterly depressing" and he thought he would "never see harder days" than the early 2010s.
He said the financial situation is "intensely painful, pit in the stomach feelings” and described members saying what service is more important than another as a "bunfight". Cllr Mitchell said: "We can't sit here debating the least worst thing to cut” and on the council’s reserves, added while they are for a rainy day, "if it's not raining now, I don't know when it's going to be raining."
Independent Cllr Alan Gibbons described the budget as "incredibly bleak" and expressed his disappointment at what he felt was a "very static budget of cost reductions." It was also revealed that an increase in council tax up to 5% would only generate an extra £4m for the local authority, £2m of which would be required to break even.
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