We’ll go bust if we don’t cut our costs

KEVIN Stewart is a man with the world on his shoulders.

He has faced public fury over the city council’s decision to slash £27 million from its budget.

Bon Accord Baths faces closure, Doonies Farm will be no more and jobs are on the line.

But today he hit back at his critics and said the city faced “bankruptcy” if the Lib Dem/SNP administration hadn't made the cuts.

In an exclusive interview with the Evening Express, the SNP leader revealed the personal pain of finding £27 million of savings.

But the finance convener dismissed union claims that he and his colleagues were running the city like Del Boy and Rodney Trotter – of TV’s Only Fools And Horses.

Cllr Stewart said: “This has been an extremely difficult budget.

“It has given none of us any pleasure. But at the end of the day we’ve got to put this city’s finances back on an even keel.

“It is our statutory duty to balance the books. We’ve got to produce a balanced budget.”

The SNP Government asked councils to freeze council tax this year – leaving them short of cash amid other pressures.

Cllr Stewart said: “The alternative to not making the cuts was to raise the average council tax by £356 a year.

“That could have been done but we would have lost £3.3 million that the Government agreed to give us if we froze council tax. If we hadn’t made the cuts that would have left us probably bankrupt.”

The city council operates two budgets – revenue and capital.

The £400 million revenue budget is spent on providing day-to-day services while the capital budget is used for schemes like building schools and other facilities. Money from one can’t be used for the other.

And while it can borrow money for capital projects it can’t borrow more cash for revenue costs.

Cllr Stewart said: “We carry debt in terms of capital budget. The monies needed for the council’s new HQ at Marischal College will be paid back over 40 years.

“Folk have said let’s abandon the Marischal project and put all that money into the revenue budget – but it doesn't quite work like that.”

And he added: “We have to find an alternative to St Nicholas House which is no longer fit for purpose.

“Refurbishing St Nicholas would cost as much as refurbishing Marischal.”

Mr Stewart said a shortage of reserves had left them “no room for manoeuvre” to cover any major over-spend.

He warned that going heavily into the red could have led to the council being reported to auditors. And this could have resulted in sanctions being taken against the administration.

The council is closing Doonies Farm and Bon Accord Baths as part of its cuts, and mothballing the Linx Ice Arena.

Cllr Stewart said: “I love Bon Accord but I have to be honest and say it’s 20 years since I swam in the place.”

He said when it came to cut services, those with high running costs had to go first.

He said: “Most folks, when you talk through the situation with them, are understanding. There are a few folk who don’t care about the big picture and that is quite upsetting.”

Mr Stewart criticised the Labour party for its criticism and said it had failed to produce its own budget.

He said: “My belief is that you can’t moan about something unless you have an alternative.

“Labour has not said how they would balance the books – and that is a cop out.”

He dismissed Labour’s claims of 300 council job losses as “scare-mongering”. He said it was “nowhere near 300” but refused to put a figure on it.

“The officers are still working through what the likely picture will be.”

dewen@ajl.co.uk