HAVING accepted an offer to move to a four-year budget, Wiltshire Council will need to be entirely self-sufficient by 2019, when it will lose all government funding.

The offer by the government to local authorities to move to four-year funding deal was agreed at a full council meeting this week, subject to conditions, and the efficiency statement was approved.

The statement sets out how Wiltshire will manage its finances to produce a balanced budget each and every year for the four year period.

Traditionally councils budget on a yearly basis, a process which Wiltshire Council member for Malmesbury, Simon Killane, said leaves the council going to the government with a “begging bowl” each year.

It is hoped the plans will provide greater certainly for Wiltshire Council and allow for longer term planning.

Dick Tonge, cabinet member for finance said: “We are committed to delivering on our key priorities however we do so against a backdrop of decreasing finances.

“We constantly have to consider new innovative ways to find the necessary savings and deliver our services.

“Having the ability to plan our finances for the next four years, rather than yearly, allows us to prepare for the future with fewer surprises.”

Further information on the four-year deal will be released by the government in December, with final details reported to full council in February 2017.

Wiltshire Council currently spends around £900m each year on more than 350 services.

Savings of £45m will need to be made over the next four years due to cuts in government funding and growth in demand of services.

Under the four-year offer the government funding will fall from £35m to zero in 2019/20 as councils move towards becoming self-funding from council tax receipts and a proportion of business rates.

Councils will also be able to use capital receipts from the sale of non-housing assets to fund revenue costs of service reform and transformation made within that period.