“Tough times lay ahead” according to councillors drawing up the draft budget for next year.

Despite cut backs, Medway Council is short of £12 million for 2015/16.

The council’s income is made up of three primary funds: council tax, what they earn from business rates, and the government including the Revenue Support Grant (RSG).

Over the past few years the government has cut Medway Council’s RSG by almost 50% and for the next financial year they have £14 million less than in 2014/15.

During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday Alan Jarrett the deputy leader said: “The funding gap almost mirrors the amount of RSG we have lost this year.

“We have considerable pressure on primary school places here in Medway and the Department for Education funding is well short of what we need to meet our aspirations.
“The onus is on the government to come up with that money.”

Cllr Howard Doe, head of housing and community services, added: “We are in a difficult situation. People are increasingly in demand of more services and better quality services.

"We can’t keep putting up council tax as we know many people have difficulty paying it as it is, yet no more funding is offered from the government.”

Cllr Jarrett also raised the point that council staff have not had a pay award for several years, and that is something the council needs to think about.

He added: “We will have to balance this budget one way or another, tough times lay ahead.”

On Twitter during the meeting opposition leader Vince Maple said: “Not spending over £4 million of reserves on a tarmac runway no-body asked for would be a good starting point.”

While disabilities campaigner Sue Groves replied: “Or on a Japanese garden that no one can enjoy.”

Councillors agreed on instructing officers to continue working on the budget and find solutions to bridge the funding gap. It will also be referred to Overview and Scrutiny for their comments.

Once complete, the budget will be presented to the council in March 2015.