Council boss issues fresh bankruptcy warning amid £38m black hole
The leader of a North Wales council has issued a fresh bankruptcy warning as the local authority tries to plug a £38m black hole. Flintshire Council is facing an estimated budget gap of £38.4m for the next financial year.
Council leader Dave Hughes said they only had "hard choices" remaining as they looked to bridge the funding gap, adding that they may find they are unable to close the gap. It comes after he previously warned bankruptcy was "staring at us down the barrel of a gun".
Flintshire Council said local authorities had faced "considerable financial challenges" for over a decade. The council has cut its spending by more than £125m in this timeframe, a spokesperson said.
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They added: "68% of the funding Flintshire receives comes from Welsh Government and per head of population we are ranked 20 out of 22 councils in Wales for the money we receive to deliver services. Every year it gets harder and we share our concerns that the gap between the money we are given and what we need to spend may be too big, but with a lot of hard work and some difficult decisions we just about manage to do it."
Cllr Hughes added: "Over this time we've exhausted all the easy options to cut spending and we've also exhausted the moderate to difficult options. Without any additional funding from Welsh Government we are at a serious, critical stage where we are left with only hard choices that will significantly impact our residents and workforce.
"Although we are working hard to identify solutions, it's no exaggeration when we say that 2025/26 may be year when we can't close the gap.” People living in Flintshire are now being asked to take part in a budget consultation.
A short online questionnaire is available until November 24, 2024 here. Residents who are unable to complete the survey online can visit any of the council’s Connects Centres where support will be available.
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