“Are you not placing this council in a very dangerous position?” the vice-chair of County Hall’s watchdog asked the leader of the Isle of Wight council.
At a Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday, Councillor Phil Jordan received a dressing down on the Island authority’s use of financial reserves from Councillor Geoff Brodie.
The representative for Pan and Barton told the council chamber there had been a use of “a significant amount” of General Reserves to balance County Hall’s 2024/25 budget: a total of £4.1 million.
2026-27 savings likely to be extremely difficult to achieve
Councillor Brodie referred to paragraph 119 of a council report due to be presented at Thursday’s cabinet meeting which he dubbed the “armageddon paragraph”.
The report said,
“Operating at a minimum level of reserves, and an over reliance on the use of reserves in any one year, has the effect of delaying savings from one year and adding them to the following year’s savings requirement.
“This results in a level of savings required in the following year that are likely to be extremely difficult to achieve and with a corresponding drastic reduction in services.
“It also places the council in a potential chaotic environment where any unforeseen financial pressures arising in the year would need to be met by equivalent further savings in the same year.
“This can have a de-stabilising effect on council services, shifting the focus from driving through efficiencies, income generation and regeneration activities, to one that is focused on cuts in services which can be achieved more readily within the timescales.”
Brodie: Cutting reserves to a dangerous level
Councillor Brodie asked Councillor Jordan,
“Can you explain to this committee why you’re effectively abdicating savings responsibilities next year whilst cutting your reserves to a dangerous level?
“Are you not placing this council in a very dangerous position?”
The council’s 2025/26 budget plans propose £1.5 million in savings: 46 per cent of which is additional income and 54 per cent amounting to efficiency savings.
Lack of funding has cut services to the bone
Councillor Jordan said,
“Whilst I accept and understand the comments made on page 365 at paragraph 119, nonetheless the chief financial officer has approved the proposals.
“In terms of savings, of course the position the council finds itself in is largely due to the increased pressures through social care – especially adult social care but both adults’ and children’s.
“Much of that increased pressure of spend comes through duties that are statutory, that leave very little margin for addressing further savings than we’re making in terms of attempts to reduce our spend through both services.
“The use of reserves has been driven largely because that increased pressure on spend has been difficult, if not impossible, to find in savings elsewhere.”
The cabinet will meet tonight (Thursday) to discuss the council’s 2025/26 budget plans at 5pm at County Hall. Watch live by clicking on the link in the Agenda.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
