Cash-strapped Moray Council has been warned it faces bankruptcy unless “radical savings” can be made to its budget.
Officials have predicted the local authority will run out of money in less than two years with a lack of leadership blamed for the mess.
Councillors are meeting today to agree a two-year plan aimed at implementing further cost-cutting, despite already slashing £24million during the last two years.
But council leader Stewart Cree has warned officers could seize control of the authority to ensure that basic services, including schools and bin collections, would continue.
He said: “We don’t work with an overdraft. If we don’t have any money, we can’t pay bills. You can work out what that means yourself.
“If we get to that situation, then a finance officer will intervene to make sure we can fulfil our duties.
“Although it isn’t forecast to happen next year, we need to find solutions for the shortfall in the next 10 months – if you wait until the last minute, it’s too late. If you can’t pay your bills, then you’re bust.”
The council is only balancing the books this year by dipping into its reserve funds for £11.2million. However, that pot is expected to run dry in April 2018.
Mr Cree has issued a new plea to the Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay, to visit Moray and discover how grave the financial difficulties have become, with residents facing fresh cuts in the years ahead.
He added: “If we can’t afford to continue to provide services, we may have to look at communities. They have risen to that challenge in the past with flower planting, so maybe we have to look at whether they can run more village and town halls too.”
In a report for today’s meeting, corporate director Mark Palmer, warned the council had “insufficient funds” to continue running current services until April 2018.
Deputy SNP group leader Graham Leadbitter responded: “We have consistently made savings proposals, such as restructuring leisure services, efficiency savings in health and social care that staff have been asking for and attaching solar panels to some of the larger buildings.
“These would have saved well over £1million, but they haven’t been taken forward.”
