At a meeting yesterday, Thursday 14 February, Cumbria County Council’s Full Council agreed a balanced budget despite ongoing financial challenges and growing demands on its services.
Full Council agreed the following:
- A general increase of Council Tax by 1.99% for 2019/20;
- An additional precept for Adult Social Care of 2.00% for 2019/20;
- The Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2019-2022;
Cllr Peter Thornton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, said: “We have risen to the challenge and we have done this despite national funding pressures. We have successfully delivered a balanced budget and at the same time we have kept our council tax rise below the rate of inflation. This demonstrates how hard this council is working to help protect the vulnerable and those in need, whilst ensuring that any increases are kept to a minimum for everyone.
“This council prides itself on providing value for money and key to us being able to do that has been our transformation journey, we have embraced change and we will continue to do so with even more plans to go digital and change the way we deliver services now and in the future. I believe this demonstrates our core competence at providing effective services within the money we have available”.
“To date we have made £249m of savings, and by 2022 that will have grown to savings of £296m – despite this we are providing an exceptional amount of important services to the public – care for the elderly and for the young, libraries and thousands of roads and streetlight repairs every year.”
