Cross-party task group satisfied with St Helens Council budget process A CROSS-PARTY group of councillors have come away satisfied that St Helens Borough Council’s budget setting process for the upcoming year has been “robust and thorough”. The local authority is facing a budget gap of £20.4 million for 2021-2022, with council leader David Baines warning earlier this month that it is “inevitable that frontline, much-loved and much-used services are going to be affected”. A public consultation over proposals to cut £21.9 million from the council’s 2021-22 budget in order to balance the books is currently under way. A maximum council tax precept rise of 4.99 per cent – which includes a 3 per cent adult social care levy – is also expected to be approved next month.