JOURNAL readers are being asked to help North Devon Council make tough decisions over its budget.

The council has created an online budget simulator which will allow people to see how cuts to budgets will affect services and council tax bills.

The website will let people juggle a virtual budget of almost £16 million.

Budgets for services — including theatres and culture, refuse collection and recycling, and public toilets — can be increased or decreased by as much as 25 per cent.

The website will then suggest what the implications might be for the services provided and the size of the council tax bill.

For example, a cut of 10 per cent or 20 per cent to the theatres and culture budget could mean no funding for North Devon Festival.

A 25 per cent cut could mean closing one of the two theatres or closing the museum of North Devon and axing funding of North Devon Festival.

People using the website will be able say where they think funds should be prioritised.

The results will be passed to councillors who will be making the decisions.

Councils expect to face significant cuts in funding from government.

Currently around 63% of the council's net budget is paid for by grants from government.

Commentators have suggested cuts could range from 25% to 40%.

For North Devon Council this would represent a loss of around £2m to £3m from a net budget of around £15m.

A council spokesman warned: "Clearly such a reduction would require a review of all service levels.

"To this end we are consulting on the way money is spent so that councillors will be well informed about people's spending priorities when they need to make tough decisions to meet this challenge.

"That is why we'd like as many people as possible to take part in our online budget consultation which will give us a good idea of what the public would like us to focus on."

The website is launched today, September 9, and will run until the end of the month. Results will be published in the Journal.

North Devon Council's acting chief executive Mike Mansell said: "There's never been a more important time for the public to get involved in helping us set our budget.

"Money will be extremely tight. It's crucial for us to know what local peoples' priorities are.

"It's a really simple tool to use and it doesn't take very long to do. We hope as many people as possible take part."