By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
No one is yet to take responsibility and apologise for Gloucester City Council’s financial crisis as councillors agreed to reset their current budget to account for a £2.8m overspend.
Council leaders have asked the Goverment for an emergency bailout loan of around £15m.
They need this funding to put right a multi-million pound overspend which came to light after three sets of unfinished accounts for the last three financial years were completed last year.
If they do not get it, they will have to issue a section 114 notice which would prevent them from committing any new spending.
Councillors voted on January 29 to reset the council’s budget for the current financial year to reflect a £2.8m in year deficit.
But questions remain over who is ultimately responsible for the fiasco.
Conservative sources claim leaders of the previous administration were completely in the dark over the financial crisis that was brewing at the authority.
And Labour group leader Terry Pullen (Moreland), who made the point that no one has apologised for the financial mismanagement, is among those calling for a forensic investigation into the issue.
“No one apologised for cuts to services,” he told the meeting. “No one apologised for increased chargers.
“No one had apologised for assets that were likely to be sold. And no one apologised for the jobs that were going to be lost.
“I asked for an apology. There hasn’t been one. Why not?”
Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said he would not apologise for “digging around the financial accounts and getting it right”.
He said the Lib Dems discovered where the council’s “financial situation lies”.
“Let’s remember the Conservatives left office with three years of statements of accounts unfinished,” he said. “An unprecedent situation.”
Cllr Pullen replied quoting a report into the crisis which said there was not mismanagement at the council but a series of “systemic shocks”.
He described this as “wonderful words” but a “complete smokescreen”.
“Why doesn’t the leader be honest and admit that the issue was mismanagement?”
Cllr Hilton said the cyber attack, the pandemic and interest rates have shot up since the council started The Forum project.
“What we don’t know, and only Stephanie Chambers can tell us during her time in office, why nothing was done about the failure to finalise the accounts for three consecutive years.”
Councillor Stephanie Chambers (Quedgeley Fieldcourt) said the Conservatives are not hiding anything and are happy for a full forensic investigation into the issue.
This is something the Lib Dems are currently opposed to claiming it would cost the taxpayer £200,000.
She said: “We are not the ones avoiding that.”
Cllr Pullen said his question over who is responsible was dodged.
“Where does the leader of the council think ultimate responsibility lies?”
Cllr Hilton said the council did not file accounts for three years while the Tories were in charge.
Councillor Tree Chambers-Dubus (L, Moreland) said residents are angry and want answers.
“They are asking for this,” she said. “It’s because everything is very smoke and mirrors with this.
“Nobody has said ‘OK, it was me who should have had oversight of this’.
“Ultimately, somebody, somewhere along the line. And I don’t know who, and I think this is what people would like to know, that person is not coming forward.
“They either have responsibility for the oversight of this and took their eye off the ball or they knew what was going on and chose to do nothing.
“The issue here is that people are feeling they are not getting any answers.”
Cllr Declan Wilson (LD, Hucclecote) said he understood what she was saying but an expensive forensic accountancy operation would not provide the answer.
“You are asking the wrong question in many ways,” he said.
“You need to sort of look at the governance. The cabinet at the time, what did they know?
“What decision did they make? Did they push it aside? I don’t know”.
The council ultimately agreed its revised budget for the financial year 2025/26, increasing it by £2.8m.