Coventry City councillors are to decide next week on proposals that will allow the Council to meet its legal duty of setting a balanced budget.
The decisions will be the culmination of an eight-week consultation exercise which sought views on more than 30 proposals that will either save money or generate additional income for the Council.
With about £20million to save, this year has been one of the most difficult in the last decade and that is reflected by a near 200% increase in people and organisations taking part in the consultation.
The deficit has been created in part by a continued reduction in funding of the Council which receives more than £100million a year less in government funding than in 2010. It means Coventry receives the lowest funding per head in the West Midlands region and if it was funded to the national average, it would receive an additional £31m a year.
This has been exacerbated in recent years by unprecedented and sustained levels of demand on services. This can be seen by the fact that the Council spends 79% of its entire budget on social care and homelessness, up from 40% in 2010.
Councillors are recommended to approve proposals such as introducing charges for the collection of garden waste from April this year and to increase weekday city centre car parking prices – the first rise since 2017.
After listening to views during the consultation, plans to introduce charging for the first three hours of parking at the War Memorial Park will not be implemented, while 70% of streetlights could now be turned off overnight, down from 100%.
There is also a recommendation to increase Council Tax levels to 4.99%, a figure in line with most other local authorities, made up of 2.9% for the Council's own portion of the bill, plus the 2% precept required nationally to help fund the UK's gap in social care funding.
Councillor Richard Brown, Coventry City Council's Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance and Resources, said the decisions needed to be made are tough.
"At a time when years of underfunding for councils is coming home to roost, we have worked incredibly hard to keep those cuts away from our residents as much as we can.
"But the reality is we can only go so far. Well-run councils such as ours are now struggling and there needs to be a new way of funding local government as the financial distress of councils in England has its roots in a funding system that is broken.
"Coventry is a prudent council and, despite severe challenges, has been able to protect services while working to build a better Coventry for the future, and improve the quality of life for those who live here.
"Here in Coventry, 79p of every £1 in Council Tax we raise is spent to meet our legal duties on social care or homelessness and housing, but we are facing the same challenges as councils across the country.
"Although the recent national announcement of an additional £600 million to be shared by councils is welcome, earlier this month a group of cross-party MPs that make up the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee said an additional £4 billion is needed. That demonstrates how these one-off monies are no more than a sticking plaster and not a lasting solution to the problem.
"It means that if we don't get a more sustainable solution from ministers, we will be facing even harder decisions next year."
The final decision on Coventry City Council's budget for 2024/25 will be taken at a meeting of the Full Council at 2pm on Tuesday 20 February 2024.