Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Budget ripped up amid crisis
Authority bosses are warning of “very big changes” to Canterbury City Council’s public services due to the coronavirus pandemic ripping apart its budget.
The last two months have left a gaping £12 million black hole in the council’s coffers - a blow described by chief executive Colin Carmichael as a financial emergency on a scale “simply never seen before”.
The huge budget gap has mainly been put down to a loss of parking revenue income which officers fear could total £4.8 million this year - as well as lost property rents and the additional costs of paying to house rough sleepers at the city’s Travelodge.
Although the government has provided £1.7 million of funding to deal with the pressures, the council says it is not enough to close the gap and swift action must be taken.
The authority is therefore proposing to reach deep into its “rainy day” reserves to pull out £7.5 million to help combat the crisis.
Meanwhile, expensive projects such as the £12 million council offices move, the £630,000 refurbishment of St George’s Street, and the £3.6 million expansion of Wincheap park and ride are all due to be put on hold for a year. A multi-million redevelopment of Beach Street in Herne Bay will also be put on hold. Deferring the large capital projects is expected to save the council about £1.1 million. Councillors will discuss the proposals at a virtual Covid-19 emergency committee meeting next Thursday.
Mr Carmichael, who warns of tough years ahead, says they are needing to “essentially rip up” the agreed-upon budget. “The proposal to use a significant amount of our reserves to plug the gap is not one we have put forward lightly due to the potential impact down the line,” he said. “But if that’s our rainy day fund, it’s hard to imagine a time when the weather is going to be wetter than this. “Finding these proposed initial solutions to the problem is just the start, though. We are going to have to take some really tough decisions in the coming months and years about which services we run and how we provide them.
“They will not be matters that we and the public can shy away from and people will need to realise that very big changes to services are likely in the not too distant future. All of this said, however, we have a leading role to play in getting the district back on its feet as we emerge from this pandemic.”
The emergency committee will start at 5pm on Thursday and will be streamed live on the council’s Youtube channel.