Plans to balance the budget in Hampshire will just mean ‘repackaging’ problems, according to councillors.
Many claim the plans which were approved at last week’s budget meeting and include saving under threat services and increasing council tax by nearly six per cent, are merely a ‘temporary reprieve’.
Services including household waste recycling centres, school crossing patrols and community transport schemes were facing the axe as part of plans to save £140million by April 2019.
Voting against the budget, Liberal Democrat councillor for Eastleigh, Keith House said: “I have repeatedly asked whether someone can assure me that tips will not be closed. The real answer is no, and the government has only given a temporary reprieve and will no doubt re-introduce the proposals next time around.
“There are no new ideas in this budget, just managing decline to the inevitable end of offering just the minimum, statutory requirements.”
Council tax will increase by £67.86 a year for the average band D home – three per cent of which will then be pumped back into the county’s adult social care budget.
But Labour councillor for Basingstoke Central Michael Westbrook also criticised the plans, saying: “I hope the councillors don’t take credit for preserving these services. After all, it’s the residents of Hampshire themselves who are injecting funding back into those services.”
Before the meeting, Cllr Westbrook urged the council to offer assurances on whether subsidy cuts to bus services will eventually be carried out, and criticised the council for its lack of action on potholes.
Council leader Roy Perry said that despite the increase in council tax, the county’s precept was still likely to be one of the lowest in the country.
He had previously put forward proposals including a charge for older people’s bus passes and a £1 charge for visiting tips.
He added: “We will not do it this year but we have time to work out what might be the solution in the future.
“Our position is plan ahead, live within our means, and target help to those that most need it.”
