Walsall Council has launched its biggest ever consultation exercise as it grapples with the budget for 2013/14 reports Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Ian Shires.

The consultation was launched at last night’s cabinet meeting following weeks of hard negotiation by Lib Dems on the council.

“We promised the residents of Willenhall that we would fight to ensure that they had a say in how their money is spent in the form of the council’s budget. As part of the Coalition running Walsall Council since last May Lib Dems  have succeeded in getting a commitment to devolve parts of the budget out to the grassroots at Area Partnership level.

“Now, following last night’s cabinet meeting, we have delivered on the second part of that promise which means that local residents will have the chance to say what is important to them in respect of how the council spends its budget.”

The Draft Budget put to cabinet last night is not a done deal. It’s exactly what it says it is, a “draft budget”. It is not written in tablets of stone,  residents will be able to have their say and that input will influence the final outcome expected early next year during the special council meeting to decide the 2013/14 budget.

Doing nothing, as Labour would want to do, is not an option. Given the current economic climate, doing nothing would lead to an 18% increase in Council Tax. This would be totally unacceptable and would lead to an outcry by hard pressed residents.

The draft budget looks to protecting frontline services in line with another policy initiative secured by the Liberal Democrats in the form of the “Marmot Objectives” which seeks to address the inequalities which have plagued families across the borough for years.

Make sure you have your say in how your money is spent. Use the links below:

Published on Walsall Council Website 24th October 2012:

Budget: Have your say

Firstly, thanks for taking the time for coming and looking at our budget consultation page.

We’d love it if you could take a few minutes to see where we are and then maybe have your say on what sort of things we should do.

Right now, we’re making some tough decisions about how we spend our budget – your money – and we’d like to hear what you have to say about things.

Walsall in numbers

• 1002 is the year when Walsall is first mentioned as a settlement
• 269,300 is the number of people who live in Walsall according to the 2011 census
• 600 is the number of services that local government offers
• 60 is the number of elected members we have
• 250 is the number of miles of roads we grit every time we go out
• 80 is the number of schools we provide school meals for

Click on each image to find out more…

Times are hard…	We’ve been listening to what you think	We’ve made changes and efficiencies in places where you may not have noticed
Now it’s time to take a long hard look at some frontline services too Read about our draft budget proposals	Next year, it’s going to be tougher	So here’s a call to action for you. Have your say!