Improved financial position welcomed

A greatly improved financial position is to be reported to the council’s Corporate Resources Committee meeting next week. The position reflects the  overspend reducing by £3M due to management actions in recent months. 

Budget Leader Cllr Alister Mackinnon, Chair of the Resources Committee said: “The final outturn for the year is an overspend of £2.280M. This reflects a substantial improvement from the forecasted overspend at end of quarter 3 of £5.550M. This is around £3M better than anticipated a few months ago. 

“This more positive position demonstrates the steps taken at an early stage to address and correct what was a worsening position at the time. Strong governance, vacancy management and expenditure controls have not been easy, but have been essential to bring us back into a more stable position. I want to thank all staff for their help with delivering this result.” 

He added: “We will need to keep on top of this as there will be further risks and challenges in the year ahead. We will be continuing to monitor the budget on a weekly basis and I am confident that we have the right processes in place to deliver the 19-20 budget.”