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Financial report shows overspend of £244,000
THE LATEST financial figures revealed at the Cabinet meeting this week show the council is struggling with a £244,000 overspend.
The news comes on the day when council bosses admitted Airbourne has left a 360,000 black hole in council coffers.
Councillor Gill Mattock, spokesperson for finance, said a 'significant part' – 114,000 – of the overspend was due to the government's failure to financially prop up the bus concessionary fares scheme.
"We need to make robust representations to government about this," she said.
Cllr Mattock said that as the figures were up to the end of July, the 'whole picture' was yet to be seen.
And she revealed that 72,000 of the overspend would be met by a specific reserve at the end of the year.
Councillor David Tutt, leader of the council, said the town had also been hit by dwindling government grants in recent years.
And he said he would be writing to the local government minister to invite him to visit Eastbourne.
"I think we have special reasons to make representations to him," he added.
Opposition leader Councillor David Elkin said, referring to detail in the budget, "Cllr Tutt announces he is going to spend another 100,000 on a review of the council's structure, having already committed 50,000, when he has highly-paid council officers who are more than capable of doing it and are in fact keen to get on with it.
"And 30,000 for a special advisor on the future of Eastbourne Buses, and 72,000 on new furniture for the courtroom – the very same amount they could not find to support a free Airbourne despite having allocated councillors 90,000 to spend at will.
"As if all this is not enough he goes on to say the council budget has been overspent in the first four months of this year by 244,000.
"It's time one of them did the honourable thing and resigned over this complete financial disaster that council taxpayers will pick up the bill for."
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Weather for Eastbourne
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South east
