COUNCIL REVEALS £402K UNDERSPEND
Leader hails ‘strong grip on budget’ as £6m reserve built up
COUNCIL chiefs say a ‘strong grip on the budget’ has resulted in a £402,000 annual underspend – despite continuing covid pressures.
But leaders at Stoke-on-trent City Council have decided to maintain a £6 million ‘Covid-19 earmarked reserve’ in the current financial year, to put it in a better position to face the ‘ongoing challenges of the pandemic’.
Opposition councillors, though, believe the authority should be spending more on services for residents now, rather than keeping millions of pounds in reserves.
Council leaders originally set up a £6.2 million covid reserve last year, to help it deal with income shortfalls and increased expenditure resulting from the pandemic.
The council’s year-end financial performance report shows that, technically, this money was all spent in 2021/22, to help the authority balance its budget.
But the transfer of another £6 million back into the Covid-19 reserve in 2022/23 means there was little net change to the pot.
Council leader Abi Brown, below, said the annual underspend demonstrated the Conservative administration’s sound financial management.
She said: “The continual focus on our priorities and delivery, in parallel with a strong grip on the budget, means that we’ve finished this year £0.4 million underspent.
“The underspend will be transferred to the general fund reserve, ensuring that we continue to have a growing resilience in this area. In parallel, planned positive management action means that our existing Covid-19 earmarked reserve will be maintained at £6 million, putting us in a strong position to manage ongoing challenges of the pandemic. “I know colleagues will recall a past debate where opposition councillors sought to fritter these reserves away, which could without doubt have left us in a much more perilous financial position.” During the full council budget debate in February, opposition Labour councillors had called on the authority to use some of its reserves to protect services from cuts. Labour group leader Jane Ashworth still believes the council should be focused more on delivering services for residents now, rather than saving for a ‘rainy day’. She said: “Every day we’re hearing from residents who are waiting for things like a wet room installation. You can talk about saving for a rainy day, but if you’re disabled and need a wet room, meaning you can’t have a bath at home, it isn’t just raining, it’s pouring.”