Frontline services and jobs set to go, as Council passes budget

Families are set to see front line services cut as the Plaid-Independent coalition in Carmarthenshire County Council pass their budget.

Councillors heard today how the authority intend on cutting £8 million to balance their revenue budget for 2018/19, with reductions in domiciliary care support for the vulnerable, redundancies and local schools facing savage cuts.

Welsh Labour Councillors tabled an alternative budget that sought to spare all service cuts and proposed job losses. Their plan sought to cut senior salaries for council directors and Councillors, utilising central and departmental reserves, seek to bring all domiciliary and residential care contracts in-house and end the profiteering of care recipients, and pausing non-essential capital projects such as the Tywi Valley Path.

In his response to the budget, Cllr John Prosser argued ‘the necessary savings can be made without cutting services of compulsory redundancies.’

‘Salaries in Carmarthenshire are amongst the highest for senior officers’, he said, adding that ‘the Chief Executive earns £180,000+, more than the UK Prime Minister. Other senior officers earn £130,000+, the same as Cabinet Ministers, and Heads of Service £80,000+, much more than MPs. This is a source of great public resentment.’

Labour Deputy Leader, Cllr Rob James said, ‘Hardworking Council employees were today used as a human shield, announcing a pay rise moments before handing out P45s.

‘Everything Plaid said in opposition and during the run up to the last local government elections, they have u-turned on. They called for the Council to begin in-sourcing services, yet are outsourcing carline and trade waste, they called for senior salaries to be cut, but voted against motions to do so.

‘Our alternative budget provided a socialist vision for Carmarthenshire. Standing up for local communities, Council employees and valuable services.

‘We will continue to provide robust opposition to Plaid austerity and highlight the alternative to their failed agenda.’