CITY leaders need to find £29m savings in three months to avoid a financial disaster in 2008.
The shortfall in council revenue, outlined in a “budget reconciliation” doc-ument given to the ECHO, includes more than £21m earmarked for Capital of Culture itself.
The culture figure is made up of £5.8m deferred from this year, £12m of additional spending already earmarked for 2008 celebrations, and a gap of almost £4m in expected revenue from sponsorship.
The ECHO revealed on Saturday how a detailed plan on ways to fund the shortfall was being drawn up and would be presented in June.
Today we can disclose the scale of deficit the council will have to address.
The figures suggest £29.4m shortfall is after assumed efficiency savings and a council tax rise in 2008/9 of 3.7%.
Council leader Warren Bradley today insisted the money would be found and Capital of Culture go ahead as planned.
But deputy opposition leader Paul Brant said: “Liberal Democrats have created a financial timebomb set to go off in 2008 with no explanation of how they are going to pay for Capital of Culture year.
“It could destroy the reputation of Liverpool as a city and prevent it getting the benefits we all hoped Capital of Culture could deliver. It’s financial madness what the council is doing.”
News RSS Feed