Cambridgeshire Fire Service makes 'no guarantees' to further tax rise amid £500,000 shortfall
Plans to raise its portion of the council tax bill are due to be decided today
Last updated 15th Feb 2024
People could be paying more in tax to Cambridgeshire Fire Service for a second year running if plans are passed today.
The service plans to raise its portion of this year's council tax bill by 2.99%, an annual increase of £2.34 for a Band D property totalling £82.26 per year.
It's the second council tax hike in as many years; in 2023, the fire service increased its share of the bill by 6.6%.
But it's bracing itself for a possible shortfall of £500,000 a year when Suffolk's fire service pulls out from its combined fire control centre it shares with Cambridgeshire next year.
The move came after reports Suffolk Fire Service was unhappy with delays of a new IT system for its combined fire control centre.
Matthew Warren's the deputy chief executive at Cambridgeshire Fire Service:
"We've recently been assessed by the independent inspectorate as being outstanding for the way this service uses its resources, so we're doing everything we can to minimise the impact on the public," he said.
"We look at ourselves on an ongoing basis to ensure we have the right resources in the right places and try to fill those gaps we have in the service as effectively as we can.
"We have a track record of making savings where we can and see how efficient we can make ourselves without burdening taxpayers, but there are no guarantees."
Strain is yet to come
In a report submitted to the county's Fire Authority, more than 64% of Cambridgeshire Fire Service income is from council tax, while more than 77% of the service's budget is spent on employee costs.
Last year, it raised its share of the council tax bill to nearly £5 which the service said was "to cover significant increases in costs in 2022/23 and 2023/24".
It's now expecting those increases to continue into the 2024-25 financial year, alongside the possible closure of three of its fire stations.
"It does feel the public are getting a lesser service"
Mark Harriss is brigade secretary for the Cambridgeshire Fire Brigades Union branch:
"I think it's essential the fire service get as much as they can, but I'm not overly pleased it's the public that are having to pay for it," he said.
"It does feel the public are getting a lesser service but having to pay more.
"In terms of the service the public get, that will be the best the firefighters can provide at the time; it does mean there are less firefighters, less fire appliances and less fire stations."
Fire service has 'a lot of work to do' to find extra money
Last month Chris Strickland, chief fire officer at Cambridgeshire Fire Service, said it may have to find other plans to raise the shortfall that's expected.
“We haven’t yet done the full cost analysis yet to understand where that leaves us, but basing it on the £500,000 we save now, it is a massive amount for money for us to suddenly have to find," he said.
"We will be pleading our case to the Home Office for next year’s budget setting but we have a lot of work to do this year to look at contingency plans for how we find that sort of money if we need to – and we can’t promise that won’t mean cuts to our operational service as we are already a very lean fire and rescue service."