POLICE JOBS CUT TO FILL BUDGET SHORTFALL (From Warrington Guardian)

POLICE JOBS CUT TO FILL BUDGET SHORTFALL

JOBS will be cut at Cheshire Police to fill a £2.5million budget hole - but officer positions will be protected.

Police in Cheshire have confirmed that there will be a rise in what they charge in council tax from April.

But a Government-imposed limit on the size of the increase means that £2.5million cuts have had to be paid for in the budget.

Now police chiefs have told residents that the cuts won't affect the quality of policing. The jobs to be axed will be from

the call centres.

Chief Constable Peter Fahy said the cuts had been made in staff posts but meant they could maintain their record number of uniformed officers.

He added: "Cheshire already has the fourth lowest council tax rate in the country and, by using the five per cent increase, we will be able to deliver increased neighbourhood policing, specialised crime investigation, a centralised crime recording bureau and new custody suites."

Peter Nurse, chairman of the police authority that sets the council tax rise, said it was diffi

cult to set this year's budget.

He added: "Government grant

funding is insufficient to meet inflation, pensions and necessary investment.

"But the Government has also capped the amount we can increase the council tax by at five per cent.

"We have taken the decision to increase the rise to the capping limit to enable us to continue with our determination to maintain police officer numbers at record levels."

From April, band D council tax payers will now pay £102.60 a year on police precepts - an increase of £4.89 on last year.