Update on the HDC 2009/10 budget

I was checking up on what is happening with the current HDC budget. It turns out that HDC has reduced projected budget deficit from £3.8 million to £2.6 million. Link to the report under item 4.


Item 1.2 says: It is now expected that the outturn will be £22.2M, a reduction in the budget deficit of £1.2M, £2.6M will still need to be taken from reserves.

Whilst that is significant it is not as significant as the next paragraph which says:

1.3 COMT (Chief Officers Management Team) are conscious of the level of savings that will be necessary in future years and that if these are to be achieved efficiently there may be one-off costs to allow them to be achieved. As reserves fall it will be more difficult to make such “invest to save” decisions. It will therefore be proposed as part of the final budget paper that the reduction in the use of reserves this year (currently forecast at £1.2M) be used to create a reserve to help fund the achievement of savings.

So HDC is now going to use reserves that haven't been used to prop up the budget deficit to use on "invest to save" decisions! If this council had a proper strategy to reduce this deficit the "invest to save" money should have been put aside already. It seems to be HDC was so intent on propping up the budget that it wasn't thinking of the savings HDC needs to make.

Time the Conservative run HDC came clean on the level of cuts that need to happen!

Report Item 4.