Residents urged to view Annual Report – to see how their money is being spent
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Residents are urged to view Rochford District Council’s Annual Report to see how their money is being spent.
The report for 2013/14 shows that, despite having one of the lowest grant funding levels, the authority continues to deliver high levels of performance.
It has been a challenging year, with further cuts to Government funding, and the Council has had to make some tough decisions in order to balance the budget.
However, during 2013/14, the Council has been successful in generating income through the provision of services to partners and other Councils and approximately £132,400 has been earned from objectives such as:
· providing a payroll service to Castle Point and Trust Administration
· working in partnership on Legal Services and Building Control
· providing grounds maintenance services to Parish Councils and Essex County Council
The Council also planned to make savings during the year of £420,000, which were delivered. This has been achieved by more efficient service and better organisation.
Some examples of savings are:
· Intensive testing on benefits was carried out by Internal Audit instead of the external auditors.
· New contract arrangements for the Grounds Maintenance service.
· Over a £100,000 per year in savings from a new ICT contract.
· Reduction in the cost of external audit.
The Annual Report highlights that although the Council was responsible for collecting £44.1 million of Council Tax last year, we only kept £5.9 million, equivalent to 13p in every pound collected. The majority of what is collected is paid to other authorities.
The Council is determined to deliver high levels of performance, and in the last year it has made a wealth of achievements during a time of unprecedented cost reductions.
Some of the highlights are:
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Leader of Rochford District Council, Councillor Terry Cutmore, said: “The last year
has been challenging in terms of cuts to Government funding, and we have been operating
within some very tight budget constraints, but this has not prevented us from delivering
a high quality service to our residents. It is promising that we have generated £132,400
of income in the last year, and we will look to develop further income streams in
order to reduce our reliance on Government grant. I look forward to the coming year
as one where we can build on our successes and provide ever-
To view the annual report go to www.rochford.gov.uk/annualreport