WHILE Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is considering increasing its debt to over £1.3billion neighbours Dorset Council says it is unlikely to increase debt levels.
Finance portfolio holder at Dorset County Hall, Cllr Gary Suttle, says that although sundry debt levels have in Dorset have increased by £4.9m to £33.7million, he is still anticipating reducing debt levels overall during the coming year.
Cllr Suttle says, for the moment, the authority is adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach for what he says is likely to be an ‘interesting year' with soaring cost of living increases.
He told this week’s Cabinet meeting that the council never stopped challenging itself over the financial position and was continually monitoring what was happening locally and globally, and would continue to ensure that its main directorates were adequately funded.
Weymouth councillor David Gray questioned whether now was the time to consider releasing some of the council’s reserve funding. either to reduce debt even further, or to make progress with projects some of which, he claimed, were being delayed because of a lack of officer time.
Council finance director Aidan Dunn said the reserves fulfilled two functions for the council – both as a ‘safety net’ for unforeseen problems and as a potential opportunity for ‘invest to save’ projects.
Cllr Suttle said the council’s out-turn figures for the last financial year, ending in April, which showed a £571,000 deficit, contrasted well to predicted deficits earlier in the year running into the tens of millions of pounds.
He claimed the figures were, in effect, a break-even budget and would help the council in the year to come.
Weymouth councillor Brian Heatley said he was pleased to see that spending for the two main directorates, children’s and adult services, appeared to have now been brought under control following a £20m overspend in the first year of the council (2019-20); £16m in the following year and just £3million in the last financial year.
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