Worthing Borough Council’s budget deficit should now be covered by reserves, a council cabinet member has revealed.
Cabinet Member for Resources John Turley (Lab, Gaisford) told Worthing’s joint strategic sub-committee on Tuesday, December 5, that reserves were now projected to cover the council’s forecast £1.54million revenue budget shortfall.
The council’s total overspend for 2024-25 was forecast to be roughly £2.7million. In November it was down to £1.54million through savings found in the budget. But now the council has revealed its reserves were forecast to cover that shortfall, balancing its budget and leaving an overspend of roughly £200,000.
Budget details were heard behind closed doors again on Thursday, December 7, at Worthing and Adur councils’ joint strategic commitee meeteing.
Worthing opposition leader Kevin Jenkins (Con, Goring) said budget meetings had not been held behind closed doors for at least 20 years, and added the current Labour administration filing a late budget last year contributed to the current position.
Mr Turley said the council was making a budget with no ‘resilience’ and would need to wait until the government’s settlement at the end of the year to determine final budget numbers.
He said the council’s financial position ‘only just’ covered the deficit and the review into council services and assets to find savings was ‘ongoing’, adding another ‘unexpected shock’ could send the budget back into the red.
Final budget details for the two councils will likely not be revealed to the public until February, 2024, due to the government taking longer than usual to announce its local authority settlement with councils, according to Adur District Council leader Neil Parkin (Con, Hillside).
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