INCREASED residential and nursing home fees, restructuring of council leadership roles, an increase in the garden waste charge, and cuts across all departments are the measures being discussed today (7th October) by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC) in preparation for the 2016/17 budget.

The initial budget proposals are to be discussed within the context of it’s four year medium term financial plan (MTFP), and are in response to a predicted 4.3 per cent reduction in funding from the Welsh Government, increase in fees and costs, and the increase in minimum wage. Alongside the budget cuts, MCC projects an increase in Council Tax of 4.95 per cent, lowering the budget gap for 2016/17 from £6.319 million to £1.743 million.

In this year’s National budget the Chancellor announced the introduction of the living wage being the lowest hourly rate paid for work, increasing from £7.20 in 2016 to £9 by 2020. MCC need to find £346,965 for 2016/17 just to address the introduced living wage rate of £7.20.

As MCC are unable to cover the wage increase, they are contractually bound to reflect a rise in their fees.

Based on the introduction of the £7.20 per hour to replace the current £6.50 minimum wage, there will be an 11 per cent increase in fees paid by the council. The 11 per cent will equate to £784,383 for 2016, increasing to 38 per cent in 2020 with the introduction of the £9 per hour living wage, equating to £2,709,686.

In response to this, the proposals discuss the impact of the national living wage on social care contracts for residential care and domiciliary care. MCC have a £8,822,039 third party budget covering payments to domiciliary care agencies providing 9,532 weekly hours of care as of 31st March 2015. Recent information gathered by MCC shows that these agencies can no longer bear the cost of wage increases and in order to sustain a supply market in this sector, MCC needs to reflect any future rises in their fees to these services.

Jobs could be lost in MCC’s highway maintenance department as the council is looking to save £200,000 from the department. If the proposals are agreed, three full time staff could lose their jobs and a vehicle could be removed from the fleet. The council is also looking at restructuring leadership and management roles within the council in order to generate £175,000.

The restructure, if accepted, aims to impact the top tiers of the organisation while maintaining focus on preserving the front-line staff.

The council are also under pressure to meet the increased expenditure in recycling and waste management, and have proposed changes to counter increases in recycling costs and reductions in Welsh Government grants.

Proposals have been made such as a van ban at civic amenity sites and a further increase in the garden waste charge to save money. A comprehensive review of the service is currently taking place to find how best to cut costs. The review is to be concluded in the next few months with a final report early next year. The initial findings of this review have suggested that savings could be made through a full switch to kerbside sort, where residents are asked to sort their own recycling.

The MCC are to maintain direct spending in schools, as school’s budgets have been protected at 2015/16 levels. Social care budgets will also see an increase in resources for Children’s social services.

Cllr Phil Murphy said: “The Cabinet will issue ideas for consultation today to address the anticipated budget cut from Welsh Government and the additional pressures that we face this year.

“This will herald the start of public consultation on this matter as well as the round of scrutiny by members.

“When we have evaluated the responses and tested suggestions in detail we will bring proposals to members to consider in order to set the budget for 2016/17.”