Residents, businesses and community groups can have their say on
Nottinghamshire County Council's 2013/14 budget from 5 November.
Have your say
The Budget Conversation will run for 12 weeks, with the views of all
those taking part being considered ahead of the County Council's final
budget proposals being debated at the Full Council meeting on 28
February next year.
The consultation is in two parts. From 5 November people will be able
to respond to a series of general questions about County Council
services and say which they value the most. Then, the draft budget
proposals will be available to view and comment on from 12 November,
following the County Council's Finance and Property Committee meeting.
Residents will be able to give their feedback in a number of ways,
including
A budget simulator on the County Council's website will give people
the opportunity to create their own budget. The simulator allows users
to increase or decrease spending in different service areas, explaining
potential consequences of their decisions.
Full details about the budget proposals and how to comment will also
be published in the next edition of the County Council's newspaper,
County News which will be delivered to all households in Nottinghamshire
from 26 November.
And community groups and schools will be able to download a
discussion toolkit from the website which they can use to collate views
of members and pupils.
Making a difference
Having your say does make a difference. Last year's budget
consultation attracted comments from over 4,000 people and influenced
changes to a number of the initial budget proposals, including the final
decisions to:
Extend opening hours for 15 libraries across the county
Freeze charges for Blue Badge applications at £2
Freeze charges for meals on wheels at £3.95
Provide an additional £50,000 in grant aid to support the voluntary sector
Councillor Reg Adair, Chairman of the Finance and Property Committee
at Nottinghamshire County Council said: "The County Council will spend
in the region of £490m this year on providing a huge range of vital
services for more than 785,000 people in Nottinghamshire.
"Like all local authorities, we continue to face a challenging
financial future with reductions in the total amount of money we have to
spend against a backdrop of ever increasing demand for priority service
areas like care for children and older people.
"Through our transformation programme we have already made huge
strides in cutting waste and making significant savings across the
authority. Whilst this has put us in a good position to face the
challenges of achieving a balanced budget in 2013/14, we also need to
have an eye on the years to come.
"It is all the more important therefore that we use the resources we
have wisely. The people of Nottinghamshire can play a vital role in
helping us to do this by reading the budget proposals and letting us
know their views through the Budget Conversation."
