Public asked if West Berkshire Council should put up council tax or make people redundant

West Berkshire Council has launched a public survey – to ask how it should save money.

The district is £15m short, blaming inflation, increased demands on services, and the long-term impacts of the pandemic.

The online survey asks residents and businesses a range of questions to help inform the upcoming budget papers in the new year.

To balance the budget, options available include: Changing the way it provides services; making internal savings; reducing overheads; making redundancies; spending savings; increasing council tax; and introducing new charges or increasing existing charges for some services, such as green bins.

The question on green bins asks if you agree or disagree to increase the fee to £60. Other questions garner opinion on council tax increases and whether the council should continue to invest in carbon neutral schemes.

So far the council has found £7m of savings for the year ahead that will be included in the budget proposals in March 2023, including a variety of efficiency, transformation and 'back-office' savings, but this still leaves a gap of more than £8m.

The main general central government grant (Revenue Support Grant) was reduced from £24m in 2010 to zero in 2020.

The council adds that there has been an increased demand for core council services, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and at the same time a reduction in its income from things such as parking, leisure centres, council tax and business rates.

This is due to more people working at home, temporary closure of facilities, such as leisure centres, restricted travel movements during the lockdowns and people struggling to afford council tax and business rates due to furlough and loss of work.

In just two areas of its budget, 11 per cent inflation adds more than £5m to social care budgets, such as care homes and looking after children in care, and over £2m to the waste and recycling contract.

"As we move close to the presentation of the budget, we are trying everywhere we can to mitigate the impact of rapidly rising costs to protect our most vulnerable residents," said Ross Mackinnon (Con, Bradfield), executive member for finance and economic development.

"Through the creation of the cost-of-living hub and working with partners, we have taken action to support residents, but it is clear that the cost increases driven by rapid rises in inflation will add significant new costs to the council's services.

"We want to hear from residents and business on the opportunities and focus for protecting services for the 2023-24 financial year."

The public are also being asked whether they think the council should increase fees and charges with the rate of inflation, and if it should continue to invest in reaching net zero carbon and protecting the environment.

The survey will run until January 29, with the results fed into full council in March 2023.