Hard financial choices are on the cards as Brighton and Hove City Council’s spending must break even this year, councillors have been warned.
The council’s chief financial officer Nigel Manvell spoke about the stark situation at the Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee meeting on Thursday (5 October).
The forecast overspend in the current financial year is lower than projected in July when the council’s black hole exceeded £11 million. It is now £2.1 million lower than then.
Mr Manvell said that this time last year the projected deficit stood at £13 million which was brought down by £10 million by the end of the financial year.
He said that inflation had affected budgets across the council – and nationally negotiated pay awards were also higher than expected.
Spending controls and a jobs freeze were brought in earlier this year to try to make savings.
Mr Manvell said: “We are approaching a critical point in the year when some more difficult decisions may need to be made.
“We need to watch the trends carefully. We need to see over the next month or two if the current downward trend continues to significantly improve the forecast. If that position stalls or worsens, we may need to look at some tougher choices.”
Mr Manvell’s team is already preparing for the worst-case scenario by looking at how departments could cut spending from non-statutory and non-critical services,
He said: “It’s not something any of us want to do. We look for financial management actions first to see if those can bring the position back down.”
The committee will have to look at those potential “hard choices” in December when they are due to review spending up to the end of next month compared with the forecasts.
Labour councillor Jacob Taylor, who leads on finance, said that things were moving in the right direction but there was still a long way to go.
He said: “There are many local authorities in the country that are in similarly difficult positions, we would argue, because Conservative governments have continually underfunded local government.
“Every day we see that in our communities the impact of that – and we’re going to see more of it to come as we have to make difficult choices.”
Councillor Taylor said that the council needed to consider reducing its spending as there was not enough in the reserves – the council’s savings – to plug any gap.
Green councillor Sue Shanks said that the council was often in deficit in the first half of the financial year including when Labour was previously in charge.
Councillor Shanks said: “Obviously, it is regrettable we have budget gaps. I would remind you that the budget was approved.
“It’s constantly called a ‘Green black hole’ but it was an amended budget, largely through Labour amendments adding to the cost of things, which we had to agree, partly because we were working together and we needed to get the budget agreed.”
Conservative leader Alistair McNair said: “We hear that last year it was worse. I’m not saying it’s good but it was worse last year and the Greens somehow managed to sort it out so we’ll see how well it happens this year.”
Councillor McNair asked if Labour would consider reducing parking permit charges because income from permits had fallen as fewer households bought them for second or third cars.
The Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey said that her team was carrying out a review of parking to look at the issue “in the round”.
She said: “We are well aware of the high cost of parking, particularly in the city centre, and how costs have gone up in recent years.
“We would love to be able to look at that and make things easier in a ‘cost of living crisis’ but we need to look at what this review comes back with to make sure we’re not undermining the necessary income we need to bring in.”
Earlier, Councillor Sankey said that the Labour group were talking with staff and unions to try to protect frontline services and support the priorities in the council plan.
Be brave- encourage more visitors by making it easier to visit and stay. Encourage shops and industry. Please stop trying to fleece residents and motorists. We also have concerns about cashflow ! Towns and cities should be run for the benefit of residents and they shouldn’t be penalised for choosing to live here. The pantheon of niggles grows every day in our city and it is becoming not a nice place to live.
More visitors does not mean more income for the council.
Brighton has got a terrible graffiti problem and parking a car in a NCP car park is a rip off
Just sack all the Sustainable Transport and Parking idiots and all the ‘officers’ whose job is to spout Council propaganda- they serve no useful purpose and are only detrimental to the city
Car parking charges are essentially irrelevant to the discussion on council finances – revenue is ringfenced for other transport initiatives, mainly concessionary fares. As a car owner I’m more than happy to pay a little extra to support those who want to travel on public transport for less; £146 per year for a parking permit is already excellent value.
The council needs to be honest now about what services will be cut, and what Brighton residents can do to support them in these time of austerity from central government.
We are lucky to have the surplus from the car parking system to fund the concessionary bus passes.
Many other councils don’t and have to fund them out of their day to day budgets which causes financial pressure.
On your last point I agree the council does need to do more to educate residents on how its finances work. I read many comments from people who clearly have no clue about income and budgets and how the council works in general.
Everyone is broke due to this abysmal and incompetent Tory government.
They have to go, for good.
Stop all vanity projects, which always require to be topped up by a third of taxpayers’ money and make this a beautiful, clean and accessible city which visitors want to spend their money in again.
BHCC have a talent for losing/wasting money – usually ours – rather than making it. The only idea in their heads is to keep ramping up prices, taxes and charges which is an economic disaster. The new parking system is an entrapment system which needs to be scrapped now while they could cancel the contract and get a full refund as ‘unworkable.’
The council have hard choices to make, Barry, and “clean and accessible” will be the first things to be cut.
If we as residents want those things, then we either need to pay extra for them or do them ourselves. Pull your own weeds, pick up your own litter.
And remember to vote in a central government that will increase local funding instead of cutting it.
It’s no good blaming the Tories, if Labour get in they will still have the same problems to deal with, as thankfully they appear to be realising as they shift to the right in an obvious desperate attempt to gain power. Also the Tories have never been so far to the left, so don’t expect any major changes if Labour get in. Also I think most people will want to see clean and accessible as a priority and yes we do all have a part in that.
I don’t share your assessment, I find it wildly inaccurate. Just to start, it’s widely accepted that this has been one of the most right wing conservative governments in recent history.
It’s not about priorities, whether ours or the Council’s. It’s about what is the statutory minimum that they must deliver within the budget. Anything more than the statutory minimum is a “nice to have” but not guaranteed. If you want clean and accessible as a priority, then be prepared to pay for it as an extra through your council tax.
Tories never been so far to the left? What have you been smoking?