HOW do you offer taxpayers the level of services they expect when your budget has been cut? That is the problem facing councils all over the country.

On a basic economic level there are two approaches – collect more money or spend less.

One option councils seem to have dismissed is using money from their reserves.

Tendring Council has about £10.5 million in reserves, but councillor Peter Halliday, in charge of finance and asset management, said it would be unsustainable to use these to mitigate savings.

This is despite 200 council jobs being at risk because of the cuts.

Mr Halliday said: “The reserves position is healthy, but it would be extremely unhealthy to use that money to prop up a budget when you can only do that once.”

Another way of raising revenue is to increase the amount of council tax collected.

Mr Halliday said: “It’s not fair to pass the hardship on to the taxpayer. It’s morally wrong whatever the financial position.

“The council has been underspending, so now we are looking after the pennies like everyone else. The pounds are starting to look after themselves.”

Paul Smith, councillor responsible for resources and IT at Colchester Council, said: “Our reserves are at their minimal level, so we don’t have the luxury of dipping into them. But we have been able to find other ways of raising money.

“For example, we have fitted solar panels to the roofs of our properties and we can sell excess energy back to the electricity company, which will bring revenue into the council. This saves tenants money too.”

However, if more money can’t be raised, councils face cutting the amount they spend. Where council cash goes has always been subject to scrutiny, but this has become even more intense.

In Tendring, the amount spent on employees came under the spotlight, when it was revealed the projected staff budget for 2011/12 was around £16.5million, of a total budget spend of £17.5million.

At a recent council meeting, leader Neil Stock said he could see 200 jobs being cut. However, chief executive Ian Davidson said this could include not filling vacant posts, people opting to take early retirement, and voluntary redundancies.

So far, 40 posts have been cut in this way, but a restructuring due to end in August could see more jobs go.

Mr Halliday added: “It must be a top down re-organisation, as I’m 100 per cent certain the organisation is top heavy. I would like to see a change in priorities and re-investment in low-level jobs.

“I am confident job losses will be kept to an absolute minimum.”

Braintree Council said it had 26 staff redundancies in 2010/11, which were a mix of voluntary and compulsory redundancy. It expects a further 31 by March 2013.

Colchester Council has made six compulsory redundancies, as well as not replacing some staff who have left. It was also exploring staff sharing as an option.

Mr Smith said: “One of the things that has put us in a good position is we started reorganising about two years ago, which turned out to be excellent timing.”

Services – what the council provides for its residents – can also be changed, and even scrapped if councils offer things they are not legally obliged to provide.

However, councils across north Essex said they will protect frontline services and make efficiency savings. Making comparisons between councils can be tricky, but different organisations can learn from each other.

Mr Halliday said: “I think you need to be careful when comparing. Tendring Council has not had a restructure in almost 14 years and it’s long overdue.

“When you look at what other councils have been doing and what their budgets are, it can be dangerous to compare. We treat Tendring as unique.

“But I’m not saying you can’t learn from other districts and pool knowledge to try to do better for your residents.”