Scarborough Borough Council's finances "strong" following pandemic
The authority's leader says they're in a good position
The leader of Scarborough Council has said that the authority’s finances remain “strong” despite it having had to spend millions of pounds it had not planned for during the pandemic.
Cllr Steve Siddons told a meeting of the council’s cabinet today that the hard work over staff and councillors in the last 18 months had put the authority in a good position.
The overall cost of the pandemic to the council came to approximately £8.2 million. While the majority of the costs were met with government grants the council was forced to borrow £2 million earlier this year to meet a projected overspend in its budget.
At the cabinet meeting the council’s finance director, Nick Edwards, said that the overspend had now dropped to £1.4 million and the £600,000 saved would be moved to the authority’s reserves and could be used to deliver projects as part of the Scarborough, Whitby and Filey masterplans that have been produced.
Cllr Siddons, the Labour leader of the council, told the cabinet it was welcome news.
He said: “I think it is very heart-warming to see that given what has happened over the last 18 months the council’s finances are in such a strong position.
“And that is due to the diligence of staff, officers and also councillors who have been involved in that.
“I think moving forward, wherever we go with local government reorganisation, Scarborough Borough Council is in a very strong position and that is really good news.”
The report on the council’s finances will now go to the next meeting of the Full Council when it meets in November.