Swansea Council Budget - The worst is yet to come.

I've been going through the 141 page document that includes the council budget report for 2010/11. It contains some interesting details about the £16.3m in additional costs incurred by the council in 2010/11...

.. and how the council has decided to fund the shortfall. The biggest drain on council overspend has been child & family services after the department has had to have money thrown at it in order to improve its service.
It all add's up to a £17.3m shortfall in the council budget.

But note that in Feb 2009 the council forecast an £8.9m shortfall, but by Dec 2009 this had increased to £15m. (See page 24.)

Later on in the report it goes on to consider the medium term financial plan which takes us up to 2014. On page 61 it clearly details the forecast shortfalls for the next 3 financial years. These are £19.7m for 2011/12, £36.7m for 2012/13 and £53.1m for 2013/14.

This makes the current years shortfall a splash in the ocean compared to what we could expect next year and the 2 years after. What we also need to consider is the fact that the original budget shortfall for this year was £8.4m less than what it actually was - that's a huge 94.3% more than orignally expected.

If we were to transpose this underestimate to the forecasts for the next 3 financial years then the council could be looking at an expected shortfall of over a quarter of a billion pounds for the next 4 years. (2010/11 £17.3m actual shortfall against original estimate of £8.9m. Remaining years estimated at a 94.3% increase on forecast shortfall figures,  2011/12 £38.3m, 2012/13 £70.3m, 2013/14 £103.1m)

The next interesting note is on page 62, where the council's failed eGovernment project pops up once more. From 2013 to 2016 the council has to repay £9.1m in order to pay off CapGemini after they binned the project.

Just when the council is in financial meltdown, more milions have to be found in order to pay a supplier for something the council will never use.

Holley and co have truly managed to screw up the finances of the city over the last few years. There has been a huge uproar by the public over the most recent (and relatively small) budget cuts and the impact on the city. School closures, teacher job losses, council worker job losses, service cuts and leisure facilities closing are just a few.
The cuts are going to continue for the next 4 years and we can all expect our council tax to rise and our services to be cut. You just have to wonder how much longer this council can continue to bankrupt the city.