A COUNCIL leader has defended her record after opponents accused her administration of breaking two golden rules in raising council taxes and dipping into reserves to balance the budget.

West Sussex County Council leader Louise Goldsmith said she stood by her decision to freeze council tax for six years ahead of a vote on a proposed 3.95 per cent rise for 2017/18.

Councillor Goldsmith dismissed opposition councillors’ claims her administration’s decision to dip into reserves for the first time to avoid £9.4 million of cuts was prompted by upcoming local elections in May.

Councillors will vote tomorrow on the council’s budget with £17 million of cuts proposed for the upcoming financial year.

The authority has to find £40 million of savings, through £17 million of cuts, £15 million increase in council tax receipts and £9.4 million in reserves, and will have to find another £40 million savings in 2018/19 with around £23 million of further cuts expected.

Council officers said the use of reserves avoided the need for larger cuts, giving more breathing space for ambitious longer term plans to “fundamentally alter” services by exploring a “more flexible, innovative and entrepreneurial” approach.

Liberal Democrat group leader Dr James Walsh raised concerns this will lead to more outsourcing despite previous attempts failing to deliver improved services or value for money.

The authority froze council tax between 2010/11 to 2015/16 but now says a council tax rise is unavoidable if services are to be protected.

Cllr Goldsmith said the years of freezes was “absolutely the right thing to do” at a time when the economy was very delicately balanced and while the Government offered the authority a financial incentive not to raise taxes.

The Conservative councillor said she thought “long and hard” about proposing the maximum 4.95 per cent increase to begin in April but with additional adult social funding available, she said an additional one per cent rise was not right for the council or for residents at a time of rising petrol and food prices.

The Chichester West councillor said the authority had chosen to borrow from savings on a short-term loan which would be paid back promptly.

She said: “It gets harder every year because we have taken so much out of the system already but we don’t stand still as an organisation, we keep redesigning and transforming our services to meet the needs of today and tomorrow.

“I find that quite exciting and challenging. There is a lot of good work going on.”

Labour councillor Michael Jones said: “For years and years, they said they would never dip into the reserves and now they are doing exactly that.

“Last year I compared finance lead Jeremy Hunt to Mr Micawber but unlike in David Copperfield, he’s waited and waited and nothing has come up.

“Instead of going for small increases each year, they have decided to put it all on at once but without the cumulative benefit if they had done it earlier.

“They’ve made a rod for their own backs with their ideology.”

ROW GROWS OVER RECYCLING CHANGES AND SCHOOL FUNDS

OPPOSITION councillors are teaming up to roll back changes to recycling services in October.

Labour and Liberal Democrat groups will submit amendments to reverse cuts to recycling centre opening hours and waste disposal charges.

Councillors said there had been a huge resident backlash to the plans with Labour claiming Government correspondence indicates the charges could be illegal.

Both parties are calling on the council to put more pressure on the Government over school funding with Labour proposing a £1.3 million “financial lifeline” for struggling schools.

The group says more than ten per cent of schools had to apply to a council hardship fund in the past year.

Labour councillor Michael Jones said: “It is all very well for councillors to pay lip service to the injustice being done to our schools, at some point we have got to put our money where our mouths are.”

Liberal Democrats propose £1 million of extra adult social care funding and £500,000 to retain the 3in1 travel scheme for young people.

Group leader Dr James Walsh said: “The budget is a conjuring trick.

“They are saying they are having to make efficiency savings, or what we would call cuts on one page, and then restoring the funds elsewhere and claiming its new funding.”