York City Council is facing ‘difficult decisions’ with an in-year budget overspend of almost £7m looming and limited reserves to call upon.
A report to senior councillors said there was ‘a significant risk to ongoing service delivery’ and that it was 'recognised that this will require difficult decisions to be made in order to protect frontline services’.
York’s chief finance officer Debbie Mitchell told councillors the budget gap and level of reserves were ‘dishearteningly similar’.
A predicted end-of-year overspend of £8.7m has so far only been reduced to £6.7m by officers.
By comparison, York’s general reserves currently only amount to £6.9m.
Chief among the concerns are the cost of out-of-area placements for young people and of agency staff in both adult and children’s services.
Inflationary pressures are also expected to add £4.5m, with additional costs for staff pay expected to exceed York’s budget.
In previous years, the budget had been largely balanced through one-off savings, but financial pressures are recurring every year.
This article first appeared in The MJ (£).
