The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Stark’ situation as Angus faces multi-million-pound blot on its balance sheet
Angus Council’s budget will be redrawn as the county emerges from the coronavirus pandemic with a near £4 million hole on the balance sheet.
A harsh financial picture being presented to councillors at a full meeting of the authority this week will include a plan to raid reserves of nearly £1m and shift ring-fenced funding for early years provision which has gone unspent because of the Covid-19 crisis.
The raft of reports going before elected members will also bring a dire warning around the future for the trust which runs the area’s sports and culture facilities, with fears it could be years before income levels recover to even 80% of what they were previously.
Angus Alive is preparing to reopen leisure centre doors in a phased return beginning next week.
The arm’s length external organisation (Aleo) receives a £3.9m management fee from the council, but that represents only around 45% of overall operating costs.
The remainder comes from customer income – 88% from the leisure area of the business – which has effectively been wiped out since the March lockdown.
It had been on course to hit a 17% savings target by 2023 and will now be facing a radical redesign to recover from the effects of coronavirus, with an added layer of complexity since five of the body’s seven
sites are shared with schools.
But taxpayers have been told that the range of measures will not have any impact on the 2020-21 council tax bills they have to pay.
Angus Provost Ronnie Proctor said: “This appalling pandemic has pervaded every corner of our society, and I fear its repercussions will be felt for some time to come.
“However, there is no doubt that the council faces some tough decisions and stark choices in the future.”
Council leader David Fairweather said: “The unique circumstances of the sports, leisure and culture sector have been harsh and are likely to be enduring.”
Amid fears some Aleos will not survive the crisis, discussions are ongoing between the Scottish Government and Cosla regarding support for councils and their culture and leisure trusts for lost income due the pandemic.