DENBIGHSHIRE Council has set its budget for the coming year with council tax set to rise by two per cent.
Council bosses say they have tried to protect frontline services while keeping council tax increases in the county as low as possible for the 2013/14 financial year.
The Full Council agreed the budget at a meeting last week against a backdrop of a poorer than expected financial settlement with capital funding cut by 15 per cent, on top of a 27 per cent cut over the past two years.
The council identified over £3million of savings over the next year made up of staff reductions, a reduction in senior salaries and a management restructuring in its planning and public protection department.
Mohammed Mehmet, chief executive of Denbighshire Council, said: “As a council we want to protect those services that are important to people and this budget achieves this while keeping the council tax increase as low as possible and making £3 million of efficiencies.
“The council has a strong track record of delivering savings by finding better ways of doing things.
“We are reducing the amount of days loss to sickness; we are scrutinising our contracts to ensure better value for money and we are being more competitive in the way in which we buy in services.”
Schools will be protected from cuts under the budget and although adult and children’s social services are expected to make savings, these will be reinvested in services.
The council has also decided to invest £1m extra funding in its Corporate Plan priorities over the next year including modernising education, highways, the economy, and social care.
Cllr Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Assets, said: “We have created a budget that protects education and social care and we have increased funding to these areas to the tune of £2.1m.
“We have already cut around £14 million from budgets over the years and we are proud of the fact that we have been able to protect frontline services.
“While the outlook for public finances is poor, it is extremely important that we provide residents with below inflation tax rises in these difficult times.”