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Capital back in the black but Labour sees red



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THE city council ended the last financial year with money in the bank for the first time in five years, new figures have revealed.
The Lib Dem/SNP administration managed to balance the books and underspent by £600,000 in 2007-8. This compares to an overspend of £5.6 million by the previous Labour administration in 2006-7.

But Labour councillors today said the turnaround was only achieved after the new administration introduced "more cuts than Thatcher".

The £600,000 surplus was reached after a crackdown was launched on people falsely claiming single person council tax discount, which – along with more houses being built – helped bring in £5m more council tax than expected.

The administration also benefited from a reduction in loan charges, otherwise its general fund would have overspent by around £8m.

City finance leader Gordon Mackenzie said: "Had the administration not taken prompt action we would be facing a massive overspend with disastrous effects across council services."

New Labour group leader Andrew Burns said: "They slashed services left, right and centre – but after all that pain, they would still have gone over-budget."





The full article contains 195 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 25 June 2008 10:25 AM
  • Source: Edinburgh Evening News
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Edinburgh Council
 
1

Very Concerned Resident,

25/06/2008 11:58:34
£600K in the black or £5M on the red - the truth is, either sum is a TINY percentage of the total +£800M revenue budget for the Council.

All perspective has been lost in this debate - political point-scoring has taken over.

The £5M overspend last year (not the widely touted £20M that seems to be flung around) was less than 1% of the overall budget. Hardly a disaster and many vital services were protected.

And well done to the new lot for balancing the books, they have done it though at a cost in lost-services and should be honest enough to admit such.
2

Stan Dup,

25/06/2008 12:21:38
well done, first class job. reward for excellent professional teamwork between councillors and workers
3

Scotish Exile,

25/06/2008 12:32:20
achieved by sound planning and good management, No, down to luck (more houses being built, nothing to be proud about
4

Alan B,

25/06/2008 12:34:15
#Very Concerned Resident

Really do not know where u are coming from. Councils need to spend within there means. Councils cannot simply spend more than they get in year after year.

We have seen the mess Aberdeen has got itself into.

Money for scotland has gone up enormously as gordon brown raised taxes and ran up huge deficits. Councils therefore have had alot of money to spend. That they too have run up deficits is simply not good.

As for vital services. Many believe that the scottish public sector is in fact too bloated. Are you trying to say all council spending is in vital services?

If you stand back from it for a moment. Part of the issue with government spending by taxing us or allowing us to spend our own money is the balance.

While we need key services like education and health etc, governments have to ration there spending just like we the public have to.

For every £100 that government take from us, that is £100 that we have less to put away for pension or spend on our children etc.
5

alex paterson,

edinburgh 25/06/2008 12:41:48
Well done lets see how long it lasts.
6

Voice of reason,

EDINBURGH 25/06/2008 12:50:33
Well done - now let's sack all the nappy officers , community re-engineering team leaders etc etc .
7

Top Floor,

25/06/2008 12:56:47
Good to see modest surplus but seems to be more by accident than design.

The SNP/LibDems cut loads of services (nursery places, creches, school dinners etc etc) because they said there was a budget crisis.

Now it's not clear that there was a crisis but if they've overspent by £8m this year what's going to get cut to deal with next year's crisis ?

8

Arfur,

25/06/2008 13:03:36
Surprise surprise one year after a change from a Lib Dem/Labour administration to a Lib Dem/SNP administration we go from gross incompitance to good management
9

Spicey,

Glasgow 25/06/2008 13:41:42
"But Labour councillors today said the turnaround was only achieved after the new administration introduced "more cuts than Thatcher"."

So they believe that they should just keep on spending money they dont have. Just like Brown then, who spent his way thru a boom without setting a single penny aside for a rainy day. Now its starting to pour and hasnt a bean to help those in need!
10

Burghboys,

edinburgh 25/06/2008 16:15:47
SAVINGS!!!! its saved because they have slashed voluntary sector projetcs, cut jobs, and filled their own pockets!
11

McMadman,

http://scottishreferendum2008.blogspot.com 25/06/2008 17:41:10
At least they haven't bankrupted the city like liebor did. Down to the last £300k of free reserves.

Fact is, in such circumstances cuts were inevitable and it is in fact to this administrations credit the situation wasn't worse.

We are where we are because liebor blew all the cash over the last 20 years. They are still in denial and at this rate will be in opposition for a number of years yet.
12

Julian.,

edinburgh 25/06/2008 23:09:38
#7 Top Floor,

"The £600,000 surplus was reached after a crackdown was launched on people falsely claiming single person council tax discount, which – along with more houses being built – helped bring in £5m more council tax than expected."

That doesn't seem like luck to me.

 

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