Liverpool Council will need to find nearly £33m savings from its budget in 2022 in the latest year of cuts for the local authority.
The council announced today that it is in the preliminary phases of compiling its budget for the next financial year, with more hard decisions facing leaders in the city.
Councillors passed £15m of cuts in this year’s budget in March, a fraction of the £445m that has been sliced from the council’s budget since 2010.
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There are no details yet on where the £32.9m necessary in savings next year will come from, though a statement on the council’s website announcing the start of an informal “Budget Conversation” indicated that more detailed plans would be announced in the coming months.
City residents will then have the chance to give their views on the budget, with the council planning to use its online budget calculator, which allows taxpayers to attempt to balance the council’s books, to get people to engage with the “difficult choices” in this year’s budget setting process.
The cuts have the potential to stoke anger among residents and councillors, with frustration still simmering over the implementation of cuts in this year’s budget to the One Stop Shop service.
While cuts to the service were reduced after an outcry, it has still had hundreds of thousands sliced from its budget.
There is unhappiness among some councillors about the new operating model, which will see two full time sites in Kirkdale and Toxteth complemented with part time sites in seven other areas of the city.
Outside of the overhaul of the One Stop Shops service, last year’s budget also saw savings come from the sale of ground rents held by the council and a review of supported accommodation for adults.
The need to find further savings this year also increases the likelihood that city residents will be faced with a council tax rise once again.
Council tax for a Band D property in the city rose to £2,129.49 this year from £2,027.27 after the council implemented a 4.99% rise.
Further details about the council’s budget for next year are expected in the coming months, with the council’s “Budget Conversation” running until 10 September.
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