£27m black hole looms in Shropshire Council's finances
Lib Dem councillors have demanded that Shropshire Council comes clean about how exactly it’s going to tackle a looming black hole in its budget of at least £27.4m
Cllr Heather Kidd (Chirbury and Worthen), said "There is a large hole looming in the Council’s budget. A combination of continued cuts backs in the grant from central Government and a lack of initiative by the current Tory administration is leading us towards financial ruin. There are major challenges facing the Council such as the adult social care bill but there seems to be little idea on how its finances will be managed in the medium and long term.
"Had the last leader lobbied Government harder and fought for Shropshire we might be in a better place. The new leader is now talking to Government but it is all too little too late. Rural areas like ours are really suffering bigger Councils are finding it hard but managing."
The Councils own strategy paper show a projected deficit of £16.8m in 2017/18, £17.7m in 2018/19 and 27.4m by 2019/20. This rises to £38M if the Council doesn’t increase Council tax by the maximum allowed over the next 3 years.
Cllr Richard Huffer (Clee Division) continued: “I know that all Councils are facing challenging times as cuts by central Government continue to bite but it very much looks like we are facing a meltdown of services in Shropshire in a few years if radical action is not taken.”
