Greenwich Council is set to increase its share of council tax by 5 per cent in April – with another £7 million of cuts, mainly coming from efficiency savings at the town hall.
Taxpayers will face the maximum increase allowed without a referendum: a 2.99 per cent increase plus a 2 per cent precept to go towards adult social care costs, a £76 increase on Band D bills.
With London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan planning a £20.14 Band D increase in City Hall’s precept, which includes TfL, police and fire services, combined bills are set to rise by 4.8 per cent: £96 extra per year for a Band D bill, or £1.85 per week.
Some £7.1 million will be cut from the Labour council’s budgets, although these will mostly be from internal savings rather than services. This follows recent cuts to services including removing the exemption from council tax for about 15,000 of the borough’s poorest residents, and cuts to street sweeping services.
However, some previously-announced cuts – like those to adventure play centres and planned library opening hour reductions – are yet to take place.
There will be new fees in parks, though: new pitch hire charges for junior and mini-soccer matches of between £40 and £72, and charges for sports coaching sessions for as much as £28 a time or £150 for a year’s licence.
Councillors on the overview and scrutiny committee will be told next Monday that while the council has managed to set a balanced budget for next year, it still faces a shortfall of £35 million for 2027-28, rising to £101 million by 2029-30.
Among the growing costs highlighted in the report is the Freedom Pass for disabled people and those over 66. A Greenwich press release paints the extra £1 million towards this as “an investment”, but in reality this reflects the increasing bill for the pass, which is paid for by London’s boroughs.
Next year Greenwich is expected to pay an £11 million share of the costs, up £1 million on this year. London Councils, which manages the scheme for the boroughs, is reviewing the older people’s passes, which offer free off-peak public transport, but Labour councils have pledged to keep the scheme as it is.
Council rents, which are accounted for separately, will be rising by 4.8 per cent. The increases are due to be signed off by councillors on February 26.
Denise Hyland, the cabinet member for finance, said: “We’ve been able to balance our books despite dealing with huge financial changes. But we need to keep doing things differently and make changes to the way that we work to reduce costs and improve services.
“Last year we reduced the number of homeless families in hotels to zero, saving taxpayers £5.88 million, and this year we’ll continue to tackle the causes of homelessness to reduce households needing temporary accommodation.
“Protecting vulnerable adults and children alone accounts for more than 66 per cent of the entire Budget. We’re working to protect our future by helping people live well in their own homes for longer by using technology and bringing down the excessive costs of private children’s care placements.”
Matt Hartley, the Conservative group leader, said: “What took them so long? After years of denying that efficiency savings were possible, this budget is just the latest admission that Greenwich Labour’s 15 years of delay has cost our local taxpayers millions.
“If only Labour had listened to our warnings on the need to get serious about waste and inefficiency earlier, then we wouldn’t be in the position where vital services like our children’s play centres are being cut to shreds.
“The financial challenge facing the council is huge – with a gap of £101m to close by 2030 – and there is no sign that the Labour government will bail them out as Labour councillors were naively hoping for.
“Given they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into finally getting serious about efficiencies, I question whether they really understand the scale of transformation required, and whether they are capable of delivering it.”
The overview and scrutiny committee will discuss the budget next Monday.
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