Councillors in Wakefield have approved a two-year budget to slash spending by £46m and axe 120 jobs.
And council tax charges are set to increase after yesterday’s (Feb 27) vote of approval for a budget which will see the local authority cut spending by £24m in 2013/14 and £22m in 2014/15.
Wakefield Council, which has made £41m of savings in the last two years, has already shed 900 jobs since 2010 as Government funding cuts have taken their toll.
A further 120 jobs are to go over the next two years as the council seeks to make massive savings across a string of council departments.
The fresh cuts are the latest in a seven-year programme where the council has to save a total of £130m between 2011 and 2018.
In addition to the budget savings, the council will increase council tax by one per cent – the first increase in three years.
The overall council tax increase, including levies for flood defences and transport, will be 1.45 per cent from April 1.
A Band ‘D’ homeowner will pay 31p extra council tax per week and a Band ‘C’ homeowner, faces paying a 27p increase per week.
Coun Peter Box, leader of the Labour controlled council, told yesterday’s budget meeting: “As always we hope that any job losses can be achieved on a voluntary basis. The savings being proposed are across the whole of the council – we are not singling out any individual service.”
Coun Box added: “The £130m of cuts I mentioned earlier mean that the amount we spend on direct services for residents will have reduced by 25 per cent.”
Wakefield Conservative Group leader Coun Geoff Walsh, said: “These budget proposals, managed well, give a positive way forward in difficult times.
“I move to support the proposed budget strategy.”
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