Sefton council must find £10m efficiency savings by April

Jun 24 2009 by John Siddle, Formby Times

SEFTON chief executive Margaret Carney today gave the Formby Times a frank and forthright insight into the £10m cuts threat facing the borough and the people who live and work in it.

She vowed to leave no stone unturned in the council’s urgent quest to find efficiency savings – and bluntly admitted she fully expected protests from residents as cost-cutting options are debated.

But she pledged to steer the council through the recession and promised to minimise the impact of service cuts on the taxpayer.

“Crisis? What crisis?” was how Ms Carney downplayed the authority’s budget deficit, which, if left unchecked, will have a devastating impact on its services.

Like other organisations, both public and private, the impact of the recession is telling.

A reluctance to increase council tax, a nosedive in government grants and interest rates, coupled with a surge in demand for services has forced council chiefs to adopt urgent measures.

As revealed in the Formby Times, job losses are likely and some services will be scaled back – but Mrs Carney insisted that “doing nothing is not an option”.

She said: “This is the beginning of a process that will enable us to live within our means while still delivering high quality services that people want and value.

“The world has changed. We are clearly in a recession which is impacting on the work that the council does. We are facing financial pressures in the same way that any other organisation is at the moment.