DISTRICT council officials remain confident they will be able to cover the growing budget shortfall but have warned that jobs may have to go to help balance the books. Speaking at a meeting of the policy and resources committee last week, officers assu

DISTRICT council officials remain "confident" they will be able to cover the growing budget shortfall but have warned that jobs may have to go to help balance the books.

Speaking at a meeting of the policy and resources committee last week, officers assured councillors that sufficient savings would be made to cover the �900,000 shortfall but warned that cuts in the staffing budget could see jobs go.

Andrew Killington, executive director at the council, said: "There will be a combination of service and staffing cuts made in order to meet this shortfall and we will be making sure that it is met in full.

"The savings package which we are putting together will not be using any of the council's financial reserves and will be going before councillors early in the new year."

The news comes after it was revealed in the Ely Standard last week that East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) was facing a �900,000 budget shortfall for 2009/10.

ECDC is looking to make sweeping savings in the coming financial year to help combat its sizeable shortfall, but it hasn't been helped by the news that its Government funding for 2010/11 is set to be significantly lower than it had hoped.

Officers have already announced a �400,000 spending freeze for the remainder of the financial year, but council leader, Fred Brown, warned that more would need to be done,

"Nobody is under any illusions that this process will be difficult and will involve some cuts in services but we have been up-front and honest about what is going on and we will be tackling it head on," he said.

A decision on the level of Council Tax is set to be made in January with officers predicting that a rise of 10p per week on Band D properties is likely.