Macclesfield's frontline council services will not be immune from cuts, Cheshire East’s chief executive has warned.
Erika Wenzel said nothing could be ‘sacred’ because the size of government spending cuts remains unknown, and no services are being ring-fenced.
Mrs Wenzel, speaking in an exclusive interview with the Express, admitted: "We want to protect frontline services to older people and children and refuse collections, but I am not saying they will be untouched.
"We have taken our best estimates and are looking at £30m in savings over three years which, while big, isn’t as big as some councils could face. But that figure could be higher."
All English councils are bracing themselves for the results of Chancellor George Osborne’s comprehensive spending review of all government departments next month – with the Treasury expected to announce heavy cuts.
"I don’t think any services are ruled in or ruled out. I cannot say there is anything sacred at the moment," she added.
Mrs Wenzel, who has run CEC since it formed in April last year, said a budget would be announced after Christmas, when residents have been consulted on what they want to escape cutbacks.
"We’ve got a whole series of events planned," she said. "We will ask people what is important to them."
She has faced renewed criticism over her own £189,000 salary at a time when the council is working hard to slash expenditure by millions.
But she repeated her view expressed when she first took on the role; that her wage, which is more than £40,000 above what the Prime Minister earns, had been decided independently and that any alterations were a matter for councillors via CEC’s cabinet.
"We need to employ the best people in the jobs and Cheshire East needs to attract and retain these people."
The council is set to overspend by more than £13m by next April.
As the Express reported in August, managers have been ordered to draw up urgent action plans and think creatively to save money.
Asked whether there could be more redundancies, Mrs Wenzel said: "We have done just over 800 staff redundancies and the vast majority were voluntary.
"As we get the government spending plans through we will review all our services but we hope if we have any more they will be voluntary.
"We have got an efficiency group that meets twice a week looking at every line of the budget and how we can make as pain free savings as possible."
She said future council tax levels also depended on government plans for spending.
* A review of Macclesfield car parks is unlikely to give traders what many of them want – free parking after 3pm.
Mrs Wenzel said: "My own view is that if we were to do that, people would shift their habits and we would lose income at other times. That income has to be made up somehow. But it will be part of the review."
She said she was happy about the current level of parking charges but that the council was currently reviewing all Cheshire East car parks.
* The decision not to officially mark the Battle of Britain 70th year anniversary in Cheshire East was defended by Mrs Wenzel. She said the council fully appreciated the importance of the event and would mark Remembrance Day each year. CEC could not mark every occasion and was working on events to mark 750 years of the Macclesfield town charter in 2011 and a homecoming for the Mercian Regiment later this year, she added.
