Financial future of unknowns

WOKINGHAM’S financial future faces a range of unknown unknowns, as it navigates its way out of the covid pandemic.

Council leader John Halsall said that setting the budget for the forthcoming financial year will be harder than usual because “there are things we will not yet even be aware of”.

He added: “We must formulate our budget proposals and move forward with great caution throughout the following years.

“We passionately believe in helping those most in need in our community but can only do this by maintaining our strong financial resilience in the most precarious of circumstances.”

The remarks were made at the start of a meeting of

Wokingham Borough Council’s ruling executive committee, held on Thursday, January 27.

A large part of the meeting was devoted to providing an update on the council’s finances ahead of the forthcoming budget setting meeting to be held later this spring.

Cllr John Kaiser, the deputy leader and executive member for finance, said that rising inflation would see a greater demand on council services, despite limited resources.

“It’s important every penny we spend has a maximum impact,” he said. “Especially during this post-covid recovery phase.”

He said that the revenue budget was mostly on course, with an overspend of £523,000, for the current financial year.

Of this, £398,000 was the cost of covid-related activities.

This meant, Cllr Gregor Murray said, the council was 0.35% overbudget.

Some of the plans for the Medium Term Financial Plan include an additional £50,000 over two years for arts and culture in the borough.

The council was also looking to save £55 million over the next financial year, on top of the £30 million the council had saved in the last six years.