THE new Dorset Council is likely to start life with a balanced budget – although there are still issues over £2million of education funding to be resolved.

It has also been confirmed that the council will be allowed to harmonise tax rates with everyone paying the same amount for unitary council services, police and fire, although parish and town precepts will vary.

The council had been facing a £15.5 million projected deficit when it starts work on April 1st but Government changes to funding arrangements has now, effectively, wiped out £11million of that potential shortfall. Other ‘savings’ have been found elsewhere to balance the books.

Further savings, estimated at £9million, will be made over two years, through redundancies, many of them from removing duplicate managerial posts.

Presenting the outline budget proposals to this week’s shadow executive meeting finance brief holder Cllr Tony Ferrari said he hoped that the coming weeks would see people appreciating the benefits of a single council.

He said there would be savings made from forming a single council with no diminution of services in areas such as social care and special educational needs.

“This is the first budget which shows the benefits of the unitary council,” he said.

In response to a question from Cllr Matt Hall about ongoing savings in some areas Cllr Ferrari said there would continue to be adjustments to services as demands changed. He said that savings made would be deployed within the departments they were made.

The budget papers will have to go to other committees for scrutiny and are expected to be approved at a meeting of the shadow Dorset Council on February 20th.

Assumptions made in the budget papers allow for a council tax harmonisation and, because the council is new, an assumed Band D rate of £1,582.44 for the current financial year to which 2.99per cent, the maximum allowed without a referendum, will be added giving an expected band 5 rate for Dorset Council or £1,629.75.

If approved this will give the council an income of £241.3million – with the potential for further savings of around £9million from an expected 240 redundancies spread over 2019-20 and 2020-21.

+ Charities and not for profit organisations will continue to get discretionary rate relief as they do now for at least a year under the budget proposals. There may also be continued help for rural businesses through a Government scheme.

But those getting the relief will be told that there will be a review during the coming financial year with the possibility of new arrangements for 2020-21.

Around £452,000 a year across the new council area is currently given in relief to just over 360 applicants.