Civic chiefs have decreased the dimensions of the authority’s funds shortfall for the 2024-25 monetary yr however extra money must be discovered.
The council says it might have to use for what is called Exceptional Financial Support from Whitehall.
If its plea is rejected and the authority is unable to steadiness the funds it would need to subject a Section 114 discover, which bans all however important spending.
Cllr Simon Letts, the town’s finance chief, mentioned native authorities was going through a “real disaster”.
He outlined a set of cost-cutting and revenue-raising proposals which might be as a result of be debated by the council’s ruling cupboard on November 29.
They embody elevating tolls on the Itchen Bridge, forging forward with plans to shut Holcroft House care home, and lowering the variety of company employees working in kids’s social care.
People who personal second houses, or properties which have stood empty for greater than 12 months, will need to pay extra council tax if proposed new nationwide legal guidelines are handed.
The authority can also be planning to axe an additional 50 jobs however says a few of the posts are already vacant.
The coucil is ready to study the content material of the Autumn Statement, which shall be delivered by Jeremy Hunt (Image: PA)
The measurement of any mortgage wanted by the council will rely upon the Autumn Statement on November 22, when native authorities will study if the federal government is giving them additional funding for social care.
Cllr Letts mentioned: “Exceptional Financial Support isn’t a handout. The authorities would lend us money, which we’d be required to repay over a 20-year interval.
“Our intention can be to ask for as little as doable in order little burden as doable falls on the taxpayers of this metropolis.”
At one stage the council was forecasting a funds shortfall of £55m for the 2024-25 monetary yr.
This has now been decreased to £38.4m, because of the proposals as a result of be mentioned by the cupboard. But the council nonetheless wants to search out additional financial savings earlier than the funds assembly in February.
In an announcement, the council mentioned there was a “vital threat” it might want Exceptional Financial Support from the federal government.
Cllr Letts mentioned: “This is a real disaster, not simply right here however in native authorities throughout the nation. It’s probably that 25-30 different councils are in a state of affairs an identical or just like the one confronted by Southampton.
“It’s an extraordinarily anxious state of affairs. There’s not sufficient money within the system to run all of the providers native authorities is required to run.”
Royston Smith, Conservative MP for Southampton Itchen, mentioned: “The authorities understands the challenges of native authorities. I hope that understanding shall be mirrored within the Autumn Statement.
“But authorities will not be answerable for the Labour council’s monetary mismanagement.
“One approach or one other they’re going to need to look to withdraw from their political pet tasks which don’t instantly profit native taxpayers. This disaster was fully predictable and a few of us have been warning about it for months.”
