Cutbacks? There'll be nothiing like that

Cabinet member for resources Cllr Steve Waight said nothing could be further from the truth than the view being put out by some county councillors.

"Services are under financial constraint, but not facing cutbacks," he declared. "This is the biggest distortion of the truth that is realistically possible. There are no cuts in this budget."

Cllr Waight said efficiency savings of 30m over two years had been achieved without any reduction in front-line services.

But he added that if West Sussex had received a fair government settlement, a number of new initiatives could have been included.

These included a 139,000 proposal for pilot schemes to tackle race hate and domestic violence.

County leader Cllr Henry Smith said West Sussex had suffered seven years of chronic government under-funding.

An increase of only 2m from the government would be offset by 10m inflation and 2m in landfill tax, which meant minus 10m. But because of the efficiency savings, a growth budget and enhanced services were proposed.

Cllr Brad Watson said some authorities were getting three or four times as much as West Sussex, and the government was 'rewarding failure'.

"This is a sort of reverse compliment to West Sussex '“ 'you're good, so we aren't giving the money'," he added.

The cabinet is recommending a rise of 4.49 per cent in the county's share of council tax.

If approved by the full county council, this will mean the average Band D taxpayer will have to find an extra 91p a week for county services.

The proposal will mean the current band D tax for county services will go up from 1,050.84 to 1,098 a year.

The amount needed by Sussex Police and district or borough councils has to be added to this figure.