Council committee considers budget priorities
The next stage in the preparation of the Council's budget for the
2010 to 2011 financial year took place on Thursday 12
th
November. An all-party scrutiny committee reviewed a report that
explores the results of an exercise to help determine priorities
for the future delivery of services.
The Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee discussed a
briefing report from the Budget Review Panel that considered the
balance between the views of local taxpayers on services, national
legislation and the Council's own corporate aims.
An overview of taxpayers' priorities and the budget consultation
are included in the report which also takes into account feedback
from The Place Survey**. In addition, views and opinions of
councillors are reported from their day-to-day contact with the
general public.
Leader of the Council, Councillor John Campion said:
"This report provides another piece of information to add to the
big picture so we can ensure our proposals for the new Financial
Strategy take everyone's views into account.
"It's important that everyone recognises that difficult decisions
will have to be made over the coming year. This is why we are
carefully and thoroughly reviewing our services and the resources
required to deliver them. We are committed to providing the
services that residents and businesses need."
Councillor Graham Ballinger, Chairman of the
Corporate Resources Committee said:
"The review is a useful tool to assist in the decision making
process. Whilst the results of this process will influence the
Financial Strategy it does not represent the budget itself. Our
review on Thursday represents the completion of the first stage of
the work of the Budget Review Panel. The second phase will be
examining the Council's approach to efficiency. The Financial
Strategy itself is scheduled to be presented to Cabinet on
22nd December 2009."
Date of issue - 10th November 2009
Notes
**The Place Survey has replaced the Best Value User Satisfaction
Survey and aims to captures local people's views, experiences and
perceptions about the local area. It tracks people's changing
perceptions over time as a way of determining whether interventions
made in an area results in the right outcomes for local people. The
Place Survey will be undertaken on a bi-annual basis. The six
district councils in Worcestershire undertook their first Place
Survey starting in September 2008 and the results were published in
June 2009.
