Local residents are being asked to have their say on council budget cuts that will see tips closed, council tax rise and public buildings sold off.
Bradford Council plans to make £40m worth of cuts to prevent the authority falling into effective bankruptcy.
The cuts will also see a review of leisure and library services and job losses.
A consultation into the plans began after an extraordinary meeting of the council’s Executive on Thursday.
But one opposition Councillor said many parts of the consultation were too vague – with the public given little detail of what some of the planned cuts might mean.
And another compared the finances to the council being “neck deep in quicksand.”
The council says it needs to plug a £120m gap in its finances over the coming years – and is currently waiting to hear if the government will answer a request for “exceptional financial support.”
Talking at Thursday’s meeting, council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said: “To put this into context, the council has had to make £350m worth of cuts. We have had to make those cuts because government are not funding local authorities properly.
“We used to get 62 per cent of our money from government grants. Now it is just nine per cent. Demand for our services is going up, inflation is going up and the number of people in Bradford is rising while our resources are going down.
“This is happening in councils up and down the country. I was on the phone to another council leader going through the same thing this morning. It is something the government is going to have to tackle.
“Every service reduction is a valued service. Austerity started 13 years ago. It was a lot easier to cut things then. It is heartbreaking to see things cut, but as a council we have an absolute responsibility to balance our books, and that means we have to become a smaller council. We don’t want to do this, but we are left with no choice.”
She told the meeting there was a difference between capital budgets and revenue budgets, adding: “The money spent on buildings can’t be spent on staff costs – we need to make sure people understand that. If you have a building you can’t sell it and use the money to pay staff.”
Chief Executive Lorraine O’Donnell said what was being proposed was a “partial budget” adding: “The budget won’t be balanced without exceptional financial support.”
She said the council was continuing to work with the Children’s Trust to “revise their business plan” to find further reductions.
Councillor Mike Pollard (Cons, Baildon) said the council should have done more to deal with the financial crisis earlier, saying: “This is a council up to its neck in quicksand that has only recently started waving to attract the attention of the coastguard.”
Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative group leader, said she had been left “almost speechless” by the budget process so far. She said her and her fellow opposition councillors only found out what the budget proposals were by reading them on the Telegraph & Argus website.
She said the delay in communicating the plans to other councillors was “disrespectful.”
Cllr Poulsen added: “The report is vague – there is not enough information for the public to provide feedback. The consultation says the council is reviewing sports and leisure facilities. What are the public supposed to say? Great? It doesn’t say what you’re planning to do, are you closing facilities? Raising prices?”
Ms O’Donnell said she had already apologised to Cllr Poulsen for the delay in the proposals being published.
To take part in the consultation visit https://www.bradford.gov.uk/your-council/have-your-say-on-the-proposed-financial-plan-and-budget-proposals/have-your-say-on-the-proposed-financial-plan-and-budget-proposals/
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