Wokingham Borough Council says government plans to change how local funding is distributed could strip more than £43 million from the borough over the next three years, forcing tough choices on services and spending.
It has joined Bracknell Forest Council to lobby ministers over the proposed formula, which puts greater weight on deprivation and is expected to benefit places such as Reading and Slough.
"We have put a proposal together alongside Bracknell Forest Council to show the scale and seriousness of the impact it is going to have on councils like Wokingham and Bracknell," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
"We are setting out a case that no local authority should receive cuts of more than 10 per cent. The fact we are even talking about 10 per cent is rather shocking. Ten per cent is a phenomenal amount. Our chief financial officers have put forward what we think is a realistic and modest proposal. The number of councils affected is relatively small."
Wokingham says the reforms could raise its savings challenge from just over £10m to more than £30m.
Mr Conway warned there would be "really tough times ahead" if the plans go ahead unchanged and said "Grants for some of the poorest people have already been cut and there is less money available."
"It's a bad time to be poor in [what is perceived to be] a wealthy area."
The council says it will try to minimise service cuts by using reserves, boosting productivity and streamlining services. "We have a level of reserves many councils would be envious of and we will have to consider how best to use them," he said.
On jobs, Mr Conway noted the council has already delivered around £30m of savings in the past five years. "There comes a point where you can't cut much more deeply than that," he said. "It's easy to assume you need to cut staff, but there comes a point where you aren't able to deliver services to residents."
The council argues the proposals do not fully reflect demand and cost pressures in the South East.
Katie French, Local Democracy Reporter
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