Opposition parties on York Council have unveiled their alternative budget proposals for the coming financial year.
Proposals from the opposition Liberal Democrat and Conservative groups are set to be tabled when councillors meet to decide on the budget and council tax for 2026-7.
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Nigel Ayre said their proposals sought to protect vital local services, support residents with the cost of living and give power back to local communities.
Cllr Chris Steward, leader of the Conservative group, said theirs would remove charges for households’ first green bins and save significant sums by restructuring the council’s management.
It comes ahead of the council vote on the budget and council tax this Thursday evening (February 12) amid warnings from council officials of an extremely challenging financial outlook.
The authority is facing £10 million budget black holes in 2027-8 and 2028-9 and it is set to lose a further £20 million over three years due to national funding changes.
Cllr Katie Lomas, ruling Labour’s finance spokesperson, has said they have no option other than to put up council tax by the maximum 4.99 per cent allowed to keep services funded.
Liberal Democrat proposals set to be tabled include scrapping £600,000 cuts approved in 2024 to York Explore’s contract to run the city’s libraries and archives.
An extra £222,000-a-year and £78,000 one-off would be earmarked for frontline services.
Discounts to green waste collection charges would be funded with one-off spending worth £100,000 while £300,000 would go towards cutting some parking charges.
The restoration of the council’s Dial & Ride service within the coming financial year would be backed by £150,000.
A Community Skips scheme would be funded with £52,000 and £250,000 would be invested in healthier food and weight management for residents.
Borrowing would be increased by £588,000 to fund road schemes and £412,000 in highways cash would be devolved down to be spent at a ward level.
Proposed savings include cutting £30,000 from paper-based council communications, £32,000 by removing an assistant to political groups role and £118,000 by reducing the scope of chief officer roles.
They also include removing two council executive posts, saving £42,000.
Further cuts worth a total of £596,000 would come from restructuring, passing functions onto the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, savings on the phone budget, among other areas.
Funds would be sourced from the one-off use of a total of £900,000 public health and arms-length organisations’ reserves, subject to their boards’ approval.
Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Ayre said their proposals reflected what residents were telling them every day. “We are focused on protecting our public services, tackling fly-tipping, and addressing the rising cost of living.” He said.
The Conservative group has proposed hiking council tax by 4.97 per cent instead of the proposed 4.99 per cent.
Spending plans include around £1.9 million one-off to reinstate free collections of households’ first garden waste bins.
One-off spending on parks worth £50,000 would be split equally between the York Central and York Outer constituencies.
Free compost bins collected by the public would be financed with one-off spending worth £10,000, with parking incentives backed by £100,000 and a £25,000 Farmers Hardship Fund created.
A community fund pot worth £150,000 would also be set up and an extra £1 million would be borrowed to fund road maintenance.
The Conservatives would also cut £30,000 from paper-based council communications and £20,000 from the Film-making in School project.
The Neighbourhood Caretakers scheme which launched last September would be cancelled, saving £240,000, with one-off £50,000 funding proposed by Labour for community events removed.
Outsourcing including of the management of Mansion House, aimed to save a total of £149,000 and removing school crossing patrols where measures are already in place £20,000.
Other restructuring and savings on staffing and councillor costs would be worth £932,000 while cuts to IT, economic development and publicity aim to save £320,000.
A further £142,000 would be saved by cutting two executive member roles and scrapping political assistants.
They would also seek £500,000 from the reserves of City of York Trading and Make It York.
Conservative leader Cllr Steward said the cut in proposed hikes to council tax showed their intent although it was limited.
Cllr Steward said: “Council tax is one of the most regressive taxes of all and we would rather money be in residents’ pockets.”
The Labour run council looks set to lose £20m over three years from the Government’s Fair Funding Review, which ministers say is needed to redirect money to areas most in need.
Spending plans for 2026-7 include £90,000 for council Neighbourhood Caretakers, £2.3m to repair and modenise the authority’s homes, £585,000 crematorium improvements and £10m for adult social care.
Savings worth £4.3m are proposed including a review of leisure services, building securing, new lighting and AI tools.
Talks over £600,000 cuts to York Explore’s contract to run the city’s libraries and archives first approved in 2024 remain ongoing.
