How Did We Fall so Far Into Red - and Can We Get Out? ; Dwindling Assets and Rising Costs Blamed for Projected Pounds 17m Overspend

Summary

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Council chiefs have warned they must make major budget cuts within weeks to stave off the threat of a Pounds 17 million overspend. City council reporter Iain Robinson looks at where the money has gone and where the spending axe might now fall ONE of the first remarks uttered by council leader Ross Irving following his surprise election victory in June was a dire warning about the "glacial economic climate" that he said would soon wreak havoc upon the public sector.

He repeated the phrase again yesterday as councillors were given the first detailed idea of just how serious the crisis facing the city was likely to be.

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Extract

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How Did We Fall so Far Into Red - and Can We Get Out? ; Dwindling Assets and Rising Costs Blamed for Projected Pounds 17m Overspend

Mr Irving and interim chief executive Chris Harman say the council is well placed to weather the financial famine sweeping local government, because it made Pounds 30 million of efficiency savings in the past two years.

But the flip side of this is that the easier cutbacks have already been made, and it now will be a case of choosing the ...

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