East Sussex County Council has agreed to a £19 million cuts plan despite last minute opposition.
The authority's majority Conservative group pushed through what it called a “budget for growth”.
But opposition leaders criticised cuts to adult social care and children’s services and urged the council to dip further into its reserves.
There were also questions as to whether the Bexhill to Hastings Link Road will ever become a reality.
At a heated meeting yesterday (February 7) councillors agreed to freeze council tax for 2012/13 and, despite the opposition of the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups, passed the proposed budget.
Alternative plans, which included proposals for 20mph zones outside schools in East Sussex, were dismissed.
The budget includes proposals to close four children’s centres and merge them with nearby centres, cut a further £12 million from children’s services and axe £4.7 million from the adult social care budget.
There will also be cuts to the street lighting and libraries budgets.
The cuts were criticised by Lib Dem leader David Tutt who said the Conservatives’ enthusiasm for encouraging adult social care users to live independently was moving too fast and too soon.
He said: “What we want to see is some safety nets built in nearly all of the cuts proposed."
Labour councillor Jeremy Birch also accused the Conservatives of targeting the most vulnerable and insisted the cuts programme would go on longer than the four-year period envisaged by the Tories.
He said: “This strait-jacket imposed on local government will go on until 2017 and who knows how much longer, and we will have to share that pain.”
But finance cabinet member Keith Glazier, insisted he had delivered a “budget for jobs and growth”.
He said: “Looking at these amendments by the opposition you would think we were living in a time of plenty not living within our means.”
The budget received unanimous support from the Conservative group and was passed despite Labour and the Liberal Democrats voting against.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here