Reading Borough Council has warned it cannot continue using its reserves after revealing a £6m overspend.
A report to councillors showed the council spent £170.5m in the 2023/24 financial year against a budget of £164.4m.
The overspend will now be paid for using the council’s financial resilience reserve, leaving £8.2m remaining.
The overspend comes after the Berkshire council gained £26m for its bus service improvement plan and £19.1m of 'levelling up' funding.
Council leader Liz Terry said it would take time to turn around '14 years of underfunding and austerity'.
She admitted the financial report was 'sobering' and said that the council 'cannot keep running on reserves'.
She said: 'It does take some time to turn around 14 years of underfunding and austerity, but we also do have to hold some hope and faith for our town and public services generally, that a Labour government has heard that, does understand it, and in due course will find a way to bring funding forward.'
Chancellor Rachel Reeves recently said the Government had a forecast overspend of £21.9bn and she would need to make 'difficult decisions' on tax at the next budget in October.
