Council has £30million in reserves

Powys County Council has bolstered its financial reserves by almost £3m to £30m.

The extra money has been set aside to ensure that the regional authority can recover from the cost of Covid0-19 which has impacted the council’s revenue over the past three months.

At Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, members were told that the authority ended the 2019/20 financial year £1.46million inside budget.

Finance portfolio holder, Councillor Aled Davies, said: “The end of the financial year coincided with the beginning of the pandemic and the council had to quickly respond to the challenges it then faced.

“In order to add resilience to our planning, the use and holding of our reserves was a key part of the assessment.

“This approach has enabled us to increase the level of usable reserves to provide greater flexibility to support the financial position should this be needed.”

Cllr Davies explained that on April 1, 2019, the reserves stood at £27.8million, with just over £9million held in the general reserve fund and almost £18million in specific ring fenced reserves.

By March 31 this year, this position had changed with the the overall level of usable reserves increased by £2.8million to £29.85million.

It had been expected that Transport and Equipment funding reserves would be used to pay for buying assets worth £2.38 million during the year. But these costs have now been funded through borrowing.

An over payment of pension contributions has also contributed to the increase in reserves.

Cllr Davies also said that the first claim to The Welsh Government’s Covid-19 Hardship Fund for cost of £33,698 incurred in March had been submitted. Monthly claims would continue to be submitted during the pandemic.

Head of Finance, Jane Thomas, said: “As we close the old financial year it was absolutely critical that we shored up our reserves as best we could to give us the flexibility needed going in to the new financial year and that’s what we have done as much as possible.”

Ms Thomas added: “There are still ongoing discussions through the WLGA (Welsh Local Government Association) and the Welsh Government about the support they may be able to offer all authorities across Wales.

“Further support is going to be essential for the authority to be able to live within its financial means.”

The cabinet noted and approved the report.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter