Mansfield District Council is due to consider how it can plug a £1.9m budget deficit following an increase in energy bills and inflation.
Councillors will review the 2023/24 budget report at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Corporate) on Tuesday 1 November. The document details the council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), which sets out the current and likely financial position over the next three years.
Following the Committee's feedback, the Cabinet will then make recommendations to the Full Council on Tuesday 24 January 2023 for the approval of the overall budget and the future pricing of Council Tax bands.
With a growing reliance on council tax to fund services, a total of £1,894,000 in savings must be made to balance the budget. This deficit is before savings and efficiencies have been taken into account.
Councillor Craig Whitby, Portfolio Holder for Corporate and Finance, said difficult decisions were needed to bring stability to the council and continue smoothly delivering its services to residents.
He said: “Mansfield District Council is like every other authority in the country experiencing internal and external influences and pressures on its budget.
“When setting a new budget, we are always mindful of the potential impact it could have on our residents. There will be an ongoing challenges in future years as public sector funding becomes tighter, so the council needs to be prepared to make decisions regarding, the level at which services are provided and how they are provided to maintain balanced and sustainable budgets for the future.
“With the ever-increasing rise of interest and energy costs, we are finding key utilities such as our annual electricity budget has increased by £332,000 compared to previous estimates, and the annual gas budget has increased by £254,000. These levels of increase are just not sustainable without clear and decisive action.
“Unfortunately, there is no planned increase in grant funding in either 2023/24 or 2024/25 from Government. The allowance in the latest Spending Review was applied in 2022/23. However, this will be insufficient to meet the cost of inflation over the three years, meaning that we have to find alternative savings to fund inflationary pressures.
“We are also exploring the delicate balance of providing high-quality services for our residents alongside revenue streams reducing from the Government."
To address the deficit for 2023/24, work will be undertaken to review all the services provided by the council. This review will focus on all service areas and specifically on what level of service we can continue to provide.
All final decisions will be made in line with Mansfield District Council’s corporate priorities of Growth, Aspiration, Wellbeing and Place and will form a key part of the Making Mansfield Towards 2030 strategy.
From maintaining 150 parks and open spaces to emptying 10,000 bins daily and keeping 579 miles of streets clean, the budget pays for council services for everyone who lives or works in Mansfield.