Future challenges and financial pressures
A 30% cut in the amount of national funding for our local
services is a key factor in why Suffolk Coastal is facing a
potential budget gap between the cost of its current level of
services and its anticipated income of nearly £2.8 million.
Given that our current District Precept - the amount needed from
Council Tax and from the Government - is £13.8 million, you can see
the scale of the daunting task facing this Council to bridge its
budget gap.
Suffolk Coastal has a long-term commitment to providing value
for money services that its residents want, and has achieved £10
million of efficiencies since 2001. It is working non-stop with its
partners to squeeze every possible efficiency out of all its
services and so reduce costs.
But the financial position facing this Council is starker than
ever and we are facing tough decisions in order to balance our
budgets, which is why we need help from our communities.
We need your views on what is important to you, your family and
your communities.
The financial situation demands innovative solutions - we have
already been pioneers in sharing services and working in
partnership, particularly with Waveney District Council - and we
have to look even more at how, or indeed whether, we deliver our
services in the future. Can you help us find these solutions?
There are things that we can do more of to help close the budget
gap such as:
- Making our services even more business-like and efficient
- Pursuing further partnerships and sharing the provision of
services with other councils and bodies
- Even more effective procurement of goods and services
- Continue generating additional income from fees and
charges
- Developing ways of working more closely and more efficiently
with other public sector organisations
At the same time, Government policy and its ‘localism agenda’
particularly is placing an increased emphasis on residents and
communities having a greater say or indeed control over the
services they receive and the area they live in.
With this in mind, what would you do?
Are there areas we should move resources away from? Are there
areas where we should focus more of our resources to help encourage
growth and improve the lives of Suffolk Coastal residents? Could
some of our services be run by someone else?
Tells us how you think your money should be spent
We created an online questionnaire and asked you to take a look
at the range of services we deliver and form a view on how your
money should be spent. We asked for responses until 3 January 2012
so that your comments could be shared with our councillors and
senior officers as they draw up the budgets and services for
2012/13 and the years ahead.
The questionnaire is now closed but is still available to view
below: