Striking A Balance

In the spirit of austerity, I've been on staycation for a week. I spent half the time with my family in the wilds of East Anglia. Although I was deliberately trying to keep my brain off matters political (I virtually stopped checking the Guardian website, even), the change of scene did make me consider how localism and the Big Society might operate differently in rural and urban areas.

But that post hasn't quite formed in my head yet. At the moment it's the holiday season, so the office is quiet and edicts from politicians have slowed to a trickle. This provides a helpful opportunitity to consider the implications of what's been announced so far. To this end, I've discovered a fun new toy, the Essex County Council Budget Maker.

This webpage sets out the fact that to keep up the 2009/10 level of service for the county, Council Tax would have to rise by 14.1% to balance out the government's cuts in grants. Apart from being somewhat politically contentious, this would be impossible. The June Budget froze council tax for next year. So, what to cut? My approach was to go through the service headings and shave what I'd consider a reasonable amount off each. I tried to protect care for young & old people, as well as skills budgets (vital given current levels of unemployment), but didn't increase spend on anything.

My budget was completely unaffordable; it would have required a 6% rise in council tax. Somewhat depressed, I then systematically shaved a percentage point off every sector until I got it in balance. I was harshest to Olympic Legacy (22% cut), Essex Championed (17% cut - these functions strikes me as something that could be integrated into other services) and transport infrastructure (12% - no major investments for a while). Despite those high cuts, schools took a 4% hit, as they're by far the biggest cost in the whole budget.

In my view, Essex County Council have hit on a very useful communication tool here. Recent research shows that most of the population still don't realise how deep cuts will bite. Their widget lets you play with a large council budget, bringing home just how difficult the prioritisation decisions of local councillors and senior officers are going to be. I wonder if Cambridgeshire County Council would consider creating one of these?

In the meantime, I suggest that you have a go yourself.