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Budget cuts risk to jobs
Corby Council could be forced to cut up to 40 jobs after it was revealed the authority may have its budget slashed by up to £2.5m next year.
The council is facing a series of financial challenges including a fall in land sales due to the recession and a huge payout to claimants who won their birth defects court case against the authority.
The Evening Telegraph also reported in March that another 3m may be needed to cover a shortfall in the cost of the Corby Cube scheme.
And the council is bracing itself for a huge cut in its annual Government grant.
Chief executive Chris Mallender will set out the savings he believes need to be made in a report to councillors later this month.
He said: "My report to councillors will say that it's looking like we might need to save 2.5m from our budget.
"That's from an overall budget of just 12 million – so it's a 20 per cent saving.
"Last year we took 10 per cent off our budget and jumped through hoops to try to make the cuts in a painless way both for residents, in terms of services, and for staff.
"We're able to lose about 20 posts by not filling vacancies and people who left voluntarily, but there's only so much you can do painlessly.
"This year we think we can just about make another 20 redundant in the same way if we cut the budget by 1.5m, but we can't give any guarantees if we have to go further.
"If our budget is cut by another million on top of that then that will be the equivalent of 40 posts."
Mr Mallender is expecting the Government to announce an across-the-board reduction of at least 10 per cent in the grants it hands to local authorities when it outlines its emergency budget in the coming weeks.
This would mean a reduction of about 700,000 from the annual 7m grant.
But the borough also has a growing population which Mr Mallender says is not being accounted for by financial forecasters.
He said: "Projected population estimates for the borough for 2007-08 are an increase of 500 people.
"But we know that we had 666 house completions that year, and we had a large influx of people from Eastern Europe.
"So despite the fact we are the fastest growing town in the country, again we are not going to be given the grant we deserve."
Mr Mallender said the authority will also look at other ways to cut costs, including the possibility of closing the One Stop Shop on certain days.
He said: "We don't want to do that but we have to be realistic.
"People in Corby have become used to having great services – they used to have to go up the stairs to a little room in Deene House to speak to someone – and we recognise that this is a difficult time, and there are hard decisions ahead for councillors."
Mr Mallender pledged to work with new MP Louise Bagshawe to ensure the borough gets a fair grant. The Conservative member has pledged to fight the corner of the constituency when it comes to central Government grants.
David McAllister, 24, from the town centre, said: "It's no surprise
that jobs will have to go.
"I'm not sure what other choice the council has."
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Thursday 23 February 2012
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