Budget has been tough but we continue to support our residents in Exeter
Published: 9 February 2023
![Councillor Philip Bialyk](/media/3645/budget-has-been-tough-but-we-continue-to-support-our-residents-in-exeter.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=730&height=383&rnd=133204277780000000)
We are all suffering from the impact of the cost of living crisis – inflationary increases, interest rate rises and of course the energy crisis, which is impacting on us all.
The Council has to set a balanced budget and we are legally obliged to do this. I will be bringing forward proposals to the next Council meeting which means I will be reducing the budget by more than £3m this year – around 15 per cent of our budget.
The worrying fact is over the next two years further reductions will also need to be found - £2.2m in 2024-2025 and £2.45m in 2025-2026.
Council finances are made up of what we get in council tax, government support, investments and charges such as car parking and other Council services.
It’s worth remembering that we have seen a reduction in central government funding of more than 60 pence in every pound.
We have been working hard to achieve the necessary savings and also ensure there is minimal impact on the public. Our Senior Leadership team have been reviewing our services and how we can make efficiency savings and generate additional income.
The City Council’s proportion of the increase in council tax will be around 10p a week, or £5 a year. This is far less than the County Council’s increase of the Police increase.
We need to increase our charges in line with or just below inflation, and we have re-zoned many of our car parks in the city centre. This will have an impact on some, but it is a necessary part of our budget process.
I spoke to fellow councillors at Executive to say I have started an internal recruitment process for a new Chief Executive to potentially be in post by April 1. I am hugely proud of the senior leadership team and I want to bring a permanency to this important role for the benefit of the organisation and ultimately our residents.
As a Council we are continuing to support those who need our help in response to the cost of living crisis. Our team has now distributed payments from the various Household Support Fund schemes to 7,489 households, with a total value of £715,673. We have distributed the Council Tax £150 Energy Rebate, both the mandatory and discretionary schemes, to 45,557 households, with a total value of £6,803,310.
The long awaited kerbside food waste collections are being rolled out to more and more areas of the city. As we roll it out area by area lessons are being learnt and the challenge of picking up city centre waste collections for residents is being addressed.
This service has proved extremely popular with residents and will significantly increase our recycling rate - it is great to report that we making good progress in collecting food waste.
We shouldn’t underestimate the challenge and the problem of waste collection in Exeter. Collection addresses in the last seven years have risen by almost 8,500 - more than 16 per cent. We are managing to collect more and still cut costs.
We may be able to point to a time when our bins have not been collected – including me. But I am very pleased that our record is 99.9 per cent of bins collected. That’s a fantastic achievement.
We are continuing with our housing programme to create quality new homes and I have taken a paper to Executive to start the development of the first phase of 35 new homes at Vaughan Road. This is an exciting development and I am so pleased to see it coming forward.
This Saturday we are very pleased and proud that HMS Defender is exercising its Freedom of the City with a parade through the city centre, and I sure that many of you will be out to watch.
The parade, which includes His Majesty’s Band of the Royal Marines, veterans and cadets, starts at 12 noon in the High Street and I am very much looking forward to it.
The city centre continues to perform well with excellent footfall figures. We have recovered strongly from the pandemic and it great to see that the hard work that has gone into protecting and enhancing our city centre over recent years is really paying off.
These remain very tough times for retailers, but we continue to work hard with our partners in Exeter to give people every reason to come into the city centre and experience the great offer we have here.
Supporting our fantastic museum is a good example of this, and I was delighted that RAMM was recently honoured with the Gold Award for Accessible and Inclusive Tourism at the Devon Tourism Awards.
Finally, I want to wish Exeter Chiefs the best of luck in their Premiership Cup semi-final against Sale Sharks at Sandy Park on Sunday. It’s a great opportunity for our young players to shine and I wish them the very best of luck in hopefully reaching the final.