The new North Yorkshire Council will face a £30m deficit in it's first year, and that's after making savings and increasing council tax by the maximum permitted 4.99%.
At a meeting yesterday North Yorkshire County Council’s executive heard its financial bosses warn of the scale of “unprecedented” challenges ahead, even following the pandemic and ten years of austerity.
Gary Fielding is the County Council's Corporate Director, he says the financial climate is challenging.
Outlining the authority’s budget for the coming year Gary Fielding, said it was facing inheriting £18m of deficits from the district and borough councils and that overall black hole for the 12 months from April would be about £30m.
Under the budget proposal North Yorkshire residents will see a 4.99 per cent increase in council tax which will mean band D residents will face having to pay an annual £83 extra from April.
Councillor Gareth Dadd is the Council’s Executive Member for Finance, he says that even with the maximum increase in council tax the situation will be difficult.
Gary Fielding told the meeting that when the new North Yorkshire Council is formed in April, it will inherit some significant deficits from the district, borough and county council's it replaces.
Mr Fielding told the meeting the council was facing £53m of extra pressures due to pay increases, inflation and energy costs.
The executive was told the authority’s leader, Councillor Carl Les, had written to MPs and the government asking for help with energy costs to keep leisure centres open.
Mr Fielding said use of the council’s reserves would give it the opportunity to “buy time” for the authority to work out a savings plan over the coming year.
He told the meeting the authority would “need to use the next 12 months well” to avoid the risk of stringent spending restrictions being imposed on the council.
Councillor Gareth Dadd, the council’s finance executive member, said the council would look to push towards finding £70m of savings over the next year, including by “going hard” on property rationalisation once the district councils were merged with the county council.
Leader of the opposition, Councillor Bryn Griffiths, responded saying the authority was “facing some very difficult times indeed” and that he did not envy the council’s position if it faced another financial “hiccup” .
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