County council must save £24m to balance its books
Nottinghamshire County Council needs to find £24m in savings
- Published
Soaring inflation and rising costs will mean Nottinghamshire County Council needs to find an extra £24m in savings to balance its books.
The councillor in charge of finances indicated the shortfall could be made up through cuts and council tax increases.
Councillor Richard Jackson said local government "generally needs more money from central government".
Leader of the Conservative-run council, Ben Bradley MP, said the authority was not in financial "Armageddon".
Council cost rises include higher fees to place children into foster care, surging prices for major projects, record-high gas, electricity and fuel as well as a projected pay rise for council workers, costing an estimated £1,925 per employee.
It means the council could need to take "difficult" decisions in balancing its books next year, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Mr Jackson, cabinet member for finance, said: "The fair funding review absolutely needs to come forward. We're waiting for the chancellor to say what the government's thinking is in terms of additional funding.
"Certainly, local government generally needs more money from central government and we need the fair funding review to give us our fair share."
He confirmed the council needs to find £59m between 2023 and 2026, with £24m needed in 2023-2024 alone.
'More preventative'
Mr Bradley, who is also MP for Mansfield, said changes to the way services are managed could include a shift in focus on areas like children's services and social care back into a community setting.
This would include the authority being "more preventative" to reduce demand for its acute services.
"Nobody thinks this is easy, the cost of things has gone up by up to 10% and we don't have that cash – and that's not just councils, that's everybody.
"There are certainly councils in a much worse financial state than Nottinghamshire and I'm not going to stand up and say it's 'Armageddon' because it's not."