The Isle of Wight Conservatives have accused the council of ‘out of control’ spending following its recently announced 2025/26 budget.
County Hall’s largest opposition group has said the ruling independent and Green Party alliance is frittering away substantial reserves and has failed to work effectively in Islanders’ interests for the last 4 years.
The Alliance administration’s budget plans include a 4.99% council tax rise, £1.5million in savings, a £11.1million increase in Adult Social Care spending, an extra £4.7million for Children’s Services and £13million worth of new capital investment.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Conservatives said decision-makers will inherit a very poor financial position following the council’s transition from a cabinet to committee system of governance in May this year.
They said:
“When the Conservative administration lost control of the council in May 2021, the total council Financial Reserves stood at over £11.7 million.
“Over the life of the current administration, they have used virtually all the available reserves and wiped out the Covid Reserves put in place by the previous Conservative administration, spent all the Transformational Reserve Fund, and reduced the General Reserves to within £1.5 million of the minimum level the council is required to maintain”.
The spokesperson said the current cabinet has run with a structural deficit – spending more than its income – and is projecting the structural deficit will continue and increase over the next few years.
They added:
“The current leader of the council seems to believe that we will be rescued by a financial bonus from devolution and that it offers a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow; many of us think the pot of gold story is a myth!”
Making the case for the Alliance’s budget last week, council leader Phil Jordan said:
“Despite the challenging financial climate, our commitment to protecting and improving our community remains steadfast. We are dedicated to ensuring our community continues to thrive, even in the face of economic pressures.
“The council continues to advocate for fair funding for the Island from the government. By maximising spend from minimal funding, keeping charges down, investing in capital schemes, balancing the budget responsibly, using reserves wisely, and re-structuring where possible, we are working hard to minimise any adverse impacts on our residents.”
How can it be out of control when there’s nothing to spend?
IWC has to meet its statutory obligations and there isn’t even enough money for that. Something the previous government (remind me, what party?) didn’t want to understand.
Not quite, but nice try. ‘General reserves’ are made up of the general fund, the already earmarked but not yet spent fund and capital reserves. Basically the Tories have a habit of trumpeting ‘we’ve managed to get X amount of funding’, but never quite get round to pending it until absolutely forced to depending on the adverse pressure of an upcoming election, where they could say ‘look how much we’ve done, aren’t we clever’. Now though, they are lambasting the council they are not in control of for spending the required amount on services needed. Yes, it will reduce the reserves before being topped up again in the next funding round, but according to how much has already been earmarked. There is a minimum legal reserve we cannot ever spend unless it’s an absolute emergency.
Reduce Council tax
Lol