Irvine Times | News | COUNCIL SET TO HAVE £10m SURPLUS

Wednesday, 7th January, 2009

Published: Wednesday, 5th December, 2007 12:30

COUNCIL SET TO HAVE £10m SURPLUS

By Kevin Dyson

Comments (0)

Print Article

NORTH Ayrshire Council will be sitting almost £10m after saving millions through a delay in implementing a new pay scheme for council workers.

Council bosses expect to have a surplus of £9.962m by March next year, an underspend on a planned budget by around £2m.

NAC had expected to overspend by £739,000 come March 2008 but a delay in the implementation of its Job Evaluation Scheme led to significant savings.

The projected finances for March now stand at almost £2m more than expected and around £1.3m above last year’s surplus of £8.672m.

For many years the council operated with a very low surplus, but the past few years has seen the surplus rise, in tandem with a general rise in council tax above inflation, except for a lower increase prior to May’s local elections.

Finance chiefs have argued that the surplus is necessary for coping with emergencies, while in recent times it has been claimed it is to be used for Equal Pay settlements.

NAC also expect a surplus of £502,000 in its Housing Revenue Account, which should be used as investment in council housing stock.

Other savings in the budget have generally arisen from unfilled vacancies in Corporate and Property Services, with underspends at £356,000 and £583,000 respectively.

Alister Herbert, NAC Assistant Chief Executive (Finance), told us that the £2,044 saved by the council in Job Evaluation was purely down to the delay of implementation of the scheme from April 1 to July 29.

“The £2.044m was the amount not required to be allocated to services as a consequence of the delayed implementation.”

The Council are also set to announce that its long-term debt has been reduced from £220.6m to £202.2m with interest rates dropping by 0.02 percent.

A report to the Executive said: “During the financial year, the Council operated within the treasury limits.”