Budget cuts 'will not reduce service'

MARCH 19th, 1998
MA98_02

Cuts will include reducing the number of extra officers due to be recruited in 1997/8 from 55 to 28 and a nine per cent reduction in police overtime.

They have been made to keep within the government's £163.6m spending limit.

Unavoidable increases in spending included an extra £2.1m in police pension costs.

At February's Police Authority budget meeting, Mr Burrow said: "I do not expect the general public of Essex to see any reduction in the operational services provided by the police."

He hoped in some areas of operational policing there would be an improvement in service, in line with the goals of the Essex Policing Plan.

The agreed budget will mean a 15 per cent increase in the police element of the council tax. For Band D properties this figure rises from £54.09 for last year to £62.28 for 1998/9, an increase of 68 pence per month - less than half the cost of a pint of beer.

See summary of "Essex Policing Plan" in the "About Us" section on this site