BARNSLEY Council is in a better financial position than other authorities but its level of borrowing is significantly higher than most, according to auditors.
The authority’s finances were scrutinised at Wednesday’s meeting of the audit and governance board, where a report revealed - shortly after cabinet members agreed a balanced budget for the year ahead - it has usable reserves totalling £273.4m.
In the current financial year, due to end next month, the council identified a need for £7.2m savings to effectively break even.
Covid has, according to the audit report, resulted in £44.6m in additional costs and lost income, counteracted by £39.6m from the government and underspends in non-critical services.
Auditors said long-term borrowing is almost three-and-a-half times the council’s net cost of services, a ‘relatively higher’ proportion that ranks fifth among 33 other local authorities.
The report puts this down to the ongoing town centre Glass Works regeneration project.
Since 1858, we have been the voice of Barnsley. We believe everyone should have access to the news regardless of their ability to afford it so we made the decision to keep our reporting free online.
With your support, our journalists can continue to do this - journalists like Jack. "I'm Jack, a reporter at the Barnsley Chronicle - It’s important to me to write about what really matters to the people of our community, every day is different and I’ve met and spoken to so many amazing individuals."@jacktolson
You can support independent local journalism in Barnsley for the same price as a coffee - it only takes a minute.
