Crunch talks set to prevent late budget in Powys
0Powys County Council is set to reduce a reserves contribution in order to prevent its budget being rejected for a second time.
Last week, a meeting of councillors rejected the original budget, which outlined a 9.5% council tax rise and £12m of budget cuts.
Following discussions between rival political parties, the council is set to publish revised proposals on Friday to resolve the impasse.
Speaking to Room151, Aled Davies, portfolio holder for finance, countryside and transport at the council, said: “The guts of the budget will remain the same but around the fringes there is a bit of room for manoeuvre.
“The section 151 officer has been impressing the implications of setting a late budget on cash flow.
“We have to send 56,000 bills out and if that doesn’t happen then we won’t get the money back in that we need to run services”
He said that he expected revisions to include the reduction in the amount earmarked to boost reserves to fall from £500,000 to £200,000.
Around £200,000 would help cushion library services from the impact of cuts, he said.
In addition, Davies said that the council has run a number of seminars to explain proposed reductions in the budget for sports facilities.
He said: “A lot of this is funded by the (national body) Sports Wales. They fund a lot of grassroots work and we administer it.
“We weren’t proposing to reduce the amount spent on the ground but the administration and we needed to explain that a bit better.”
The authority had hoped to boost its reserves by half a million pounds in 2019/20 after it had to dip into the pot to the tune of £12m last year.
This cash funded improvements to children’s and adult social services in the wake of critical report by watchdog the Care Inspectorate Wales.
At last week’s full council meeting, members voted down the medium-term financial strategy, revenue budget and a rise to fees and charges, after which the process was abandoned. The council is set to meet again next Thursday to vote on the revised plans.
Another Welsh authority, Anglesey County Council, this week backed a 9.5% council tax rise in the face of criticism from opposition parties.
