Friday 2nd October 2009

Vale of White Horse Conservatives

Grants cut due to accounting error

We all know that there must be a general election before next June and whichever party wins, the financial situation in which we find ourselves will be very difficult. This will be particularly true in local government. Councils are likely to receive less from central government and the public will be understandably opposed to further increases in council tax.

At a time when councils should be getting themselves into shape to deal with tough times ahead, it is particularly distressing the Lib Dem run Vale District Council is making matters worse for itself. It emerged over the summer that accounting errors have left the council in a dire financial position.

People may recall that last year’s budget was a very tight affair anyway, with many services struggling to survive, yet it now appears that the council’s reserves were overstated by more than £700,000. This means that without remedial action the reserves going into next year will be less than the price of the average terrace house in the district.

This is on top of a further accounting error of £260,000 caused by double counting money from central government.

As a direct result of these financial failings the Lib Dem Leader of the Council has proposed that the grants budget, the money that the Council can give to worthwhile and important community groups, be cut by £15,000.

Vale Conservative Leader, Cllr Matthew Barber, said, “This is not quite a crisis, but it is certainly not good news. I am happy to work with anyone to improve the council’s finances, but it will not be easy to balance the books in difficult economic times. The Lib Dems at the Vale have not just overspent on public money, but they have also overspent their credibility.”