Council tax is top of theagenda as Rother facehaving to make more cuts

In response to the continued Government funding cuts, Rother District Council has identified savings in excess of £1.4m by reducing the number of staff and cutting running costs.

The report to Cabinet highlights that further savings of £293,500 are still required for 2014/15 to balance the 14/15 budget at £11.98million.

Between 2010/11 and 2015/16 the authority expects core Government funding to have dropped by around £2.8million.

As well as using its reserves to lessen the impact on frontline services and taking advantage of increased business rate retention and New Homes Bonus, the cabinet will consider four council tax options – freezing council tax as it has done for the previous three years or increasing it by 1 per cent, 1.45 per cent or 1.95 per cent.

In addition Members will be asked to launch a further review of services to find another £1million of savings to meet the projected shortfall in funding for 2015/16.

Proposals discussed by Cabinet will be referred to full council, which will make a final decision on Monday, February 24.

The agenda for Monday’s meeting can be viewed in the Council and Democracy section at www.rother.gov.uk.

Monday will also see Rye Town Council meeting to set its council tax level.

The recommendation was for an 1.9 percent increase but the council’s policy and resources committee agreed to remove £2,500 of the suggested grants provision and the £1,500 contingency provision with the aim of avoiding an increasing and perhaps even implementing a small reduction.

Overall, tax payers in the Rye and Battle area are facing a likely increase in their final council tax bill this year with East Sussex County Council considering raising its portion of the council tax for the first time in four years in the face of having to make £110 million budget cuts in the ten years to 2020.

The County Council has pledged to invest money in repairing pot-holes on the county’s crumbling road network.

East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service is also considering increasing its precept by 1.94 percent for 2014/15.