The budget shows the county council is making big savings on the way it works by negotiating better deals and getting more for council tax payers' money in the way it buys in its good and services.

Budget marks major savings for tax payer

A meeting of full county council today demonstrated its commitment to providing value for money for Staffordshire's council tax payers.

A statement by the Chairman Terry Dix revealed that more than £1million pounds worth of cashable savings have been delivered in the current financial year. 80 per cent of that will now be reallocated into other areas for investment.

It shows the county council is making big savings on the way it works by negotiating better deals and getting more for council tax payers' money in the way it buys in its good and services. A further £1.3 million pounds of non cashable savings have also been delivered. This means through the procurement process it's managed to defend the council against possible price increases.

County Councillor Terry Dix said: "Since we increased our emphasis on strategic procurement in 2004 we have identified £9million worth of them, £4.5m of which are cashable. We have done this by improving the way we buy in things and utilising technology including reverse auctions and taking advantage of market opportunities such as de-regulation of post."

At today's meeting of the county council recommendations were also passed to introduce the lowest council tax increase since 1995 - of four per cent. It means a rise of £37.90, that's 73 pence a week for a Band D property.

In a statement made at the meeting by the County Council Leader John Taylor - he said: "Excellence in financial planning and management is vital to achieving sustainable improvements in services. Our aim was to set a good and balanced budget and I believe the budget presented today meets that aim. It has been shaped in the light of consultation feedback and I'd like to thank those people who took part in the consultation exercises, which proved to be very valuable.

He said: "We also want to keep Council tax increases as low as possible and that means being more efficient so we can unlock the resources and use some of it to fund better services."

Page Last Modified: 14/02/2008 14:37:11

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