The roles of lollipop men and women in Lichfield and Burntwood are being reviewed as part of a council’s plan to save £35million.
Staffordshire County Council has drawn up a raft of proposals to bridge a funding shortfall.
The Conservative-controlled authority said record spending of £315million on care and a reduction in national funding meant it is having to make some “incredibly difficult decisions in order to balance the books”.
A review of school crossing guards is among the proposals, with the council keen to see community-funded posts in place by 2019.
Cllr Philip Atkins, Staffordshire County Council’s leader, said: “As a county council we have helped deliver a strong flourishing economy, low unemployment, improving schools, good children’s services and better jobs and training for Staffordshire people – all on one of the lowest council taxes in the country.
“Although we remain absolutely committed to doing all of these, we also have to deal with a most pressing financial challenge of how we can continue to meet the increasing costs of adult social care and children’s care with less money year on year.
“We have already reduced our own running costs by £240million in the last nine years, and the reality is that without urgent additional national funding, we face some extremely difficult decisions in order to meet our legal duty to deliver a balanced budget next year.
“Our proposals mean we will still do more to support Staffordshire people than we are legally obliged to, but we want to be honest and open with people about the reality we may all face if the level of funding we need is not achieved. That is why we are publishing our budget three months early.”
Other proposals to save money include:
- A review of council back office support staff and focus on frontline services.
- Controls on all non-essential spending on areas such as recruitment, travel and conferences.
- Offer of concessionary travel post-9.30am only
- Review of highways landscaping
Cllr Mike Sutherland, Cabinet member for finance added: “While we are hopeful extra funding will be forthcoming, it is important that we set out plans to ensure we can balance our books for next year – something which all councils must do.
“We are facing some very difficult decisions around areas such as school crossing patrols, but this is just one option we have needed to propose in order to work with the funding we have available.
“Where areas are affected, we will work with communities wherever possible to help them find local solutions.”
The current proposals will be discussed by Cabinet on September 19. The final budget for 2019/20 will be presented to the full council in February.
