Trouble-torn Thurrock Council has requested £182.5m in Government support over the next year to shore up its services.
The Tory-controlled council said it would cover 57% of its spending, paying for social care, refuse collection and road maintenance.
It has a £469m blackhole this current financial year and an additional £184m for 2023/24.
By the end of March, Thurrock Council's total borrowing will stand at £1.511bn, mostly made up of loans from the Public Works Loan Board which it has used to pay back other councils which it borrowed millions from to invest.
The council’s finances collapsed after a series of controversial commercial investments failed.
It has now proposed increasing council tax by 4.99%, the maximum allowed without a referendum.
The emergency funding follows the announcement of a full intervention by the Government amid concerns over the authority’s finances.
In September ministers sent commissioners from Essex County Council into Thurrock to oversee its financial management.
A Best Value inspection team recently provided an interim progress update to local government secretary Michael Gove ahead of a full report next month.
Leader Mark Coxshall, interim chief executive officer Ian Wake and Essex County Council Commissioner Nicole Wood said: ‘the scale of the issue at Thurrock Council is so profound that the levers currently available to the council are not sufficient to achieve financial sustainability, even over a long-term period, and we will continue to discuss creative options with your officials’.
