The new Conservative administration at Borough Hall has uncovered a colossal £2.27m hole in the previous administrations supposed “balanced budget” for 2022/23.
The outgoing Liberal Democrats racked up millions of pounds in overspend, as a result of failing to deal robustly with significant financial pressures on services and ballooning costs.
A hefty £3.29m overspend has been largely attributed to the runaway cost of temporary accommodation, which seems not to have been anticipated, and with no long term plan in place.
Additionally, key budget areas have been hollowed out over the years, leaving barely enough funding to last until the end of the financial year. Some of the assumptions in last year’s budgeting process, overseen by the Liberal Democrats, where absurdly optimistic.
The cost of the previous administration’s financial mismanagement now puts further pressure on current finances, with implications for Council services.
The poor state of Borough Council finances was laid bare in Wednesday’s meeting of the Borough Council’s new Executive, as the Conservative Group warned of significant challenges ahead, due to the bleak financial picture inherited from the outgoing Liberal Democrat administration.
Finance Portfolio Holder, Councillor Graeme Coombes, who presented the grave financial picture to the Borough’s new Cabinet, commented:
“The former Liberal Democrat administration’s mismanagement of the Council’s finances is one of its biggest failures. It’s an unpleasant legacy to inherit, but one which the people of the Borough need to be made aware of – the Liberal Democrats squandered a much healthier financial picture that they inherited from the County Council in 2009. We are now having to pick up the pieces after 14 years of poor planning, lack of vision and decisions ducked, which have collectively failed to deliver a properly balanced budget.
The picture inherited is severe. However, the new Conservative administration will look to provide good, solid and reliable services, as we clean up the Lib Dem mess, to ensure that moving forward the Council is financially resilient.”
