Council departments across Shropshire will have to make a business case to get money under new plans aimed at helping authority make another ?80 million in savings over the next three years.
Shropshire Council is taking the step of using ?zero budgeting? for the first time as it reviews all of its departments.
It means every department will start with a budget of zero and have to produce a business case for the amount of funding it needs to run its services, rather than being given a set amount each year.
Finance officers hope the new approach could help reduce some budgets by up to 50 per cent over the coming years.
The proposals will be considered as part of a report detailing the financial strategy for 2014/15 to 2023/24 which will go before cabinet on Wednesday.
Council leader Keith Barrow said: ?We are fundamentally changing the way we work because the financial position we are in now is a world away from the situation just a few years ago.
?We have to reduce the amount the council spends, and we think that making every department justify how much budget they need rather than just giving them a pot of money will help do that.
?It may seem like common sense, but this is actually quite a revolutionary way of working in the public sector, although it is of course commonplace in the business world.?
Councillor Barrow said the amount of money the authority was being asked to save was ?huge? and the council ?simply can?t carry on doing what we have always done?.
He said: ?We are looking at a range of innovative ways of providing services differently, mainly based around commissioning services locally by asking people what they need rather than us telling them what we think they need.
?As well as producing more efficient services which are better suited to people?s needs, this will save a significant amount of money too, by cutting out bureaucracy and overlapping services.
?Zero-based budgeting is another way of driving down costs and making sure that council tax-payers? money is going as far as it possibly can. We are facing a big challenge and it won?t be easy, but I?m confident we can deliver.?
More information will be given about the changes taking place at the council as part of a consultation due to take place over the coming weeks.
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