Warnings have been issued that Moray Council services may have to be scaled back as the cost of coronavirus in the region continues to increase.
Financial estimates in July placed the price of the response to the pandemic at £5.5 million.
However, new figures due to be presented to councillors today predict the cost for the financial year will now stretch to £7.4 million.
The estimates come with a warning from senior officials that libraries and customer service teams may be reviewed with a shift to online systems expected to fill the gap – with worse possibly to come in future years.
Yesterday, council leader Graham Leadbitter stressed any major changes in service would be subject to consultation with staff and the public.
Extra cleaning costs, staffing at coronavirus response centres, delayed construction projects and a further loss of income have all contributed to the increase.
In a report, Lorraine Paisey, the council’s chief financial officer, stressed the authority must transform services “as soon as possible” to balance the books in the long-term.
However, she warned that “active consideration” of how to bring back services that have been suspended during the lockdown give the greatest scope of short-term savings.
Tim Eagle, leader of the council’s Conservative group, said the rise in the figure was expected but raised doubts about redesigning services.
He said: “The problem for Moray Council is we simply cannot absorb these kinds of figures.
“I’m up for doing things in new ways and using this as a period of reflection, and I hope that is what this is meaning, but if this is about closing facilities to save money, with ill thought out mitigations in place, then no chance.”
Officials have indicated they have received signals that the Scottish Government will “meet in full” the cost of responding to the pandemic.
However, they have warned against a reliance on Holyrood funding due to other uncertainties, including a second wave of the virus and Brexit.
Meanwhile, the authority may also face a further bill from Health and Social Care Moray’s pandemic response, which it would share with NHS Grampian.
Mr Leadbitter said: “Like all councils, our finances are fluctuating significantly as we move through the various stages of this public health crisis.
“It will be important over the coming months to get our income back on track as much as possible.
“There is likely to be more government funding, but that will depend on the Chancellor’s next budget statement in October.
“Before we go back to what we had before it’s sensible to consider how we have run services differently during this period, including some new services we have had to start up.”
In her report, Mrs Paisey warned that exhausting reserve funds to balance the budget this year could make the task in future years more painful.
She said: “The response to the Covid-19 pandemic has placed considerable strain on the council’s finances and is likely to continue to have an adverse effect at least into 2021/22.”
