Capital back in the black but Labour sees red

Published on Wednesday 25 June 2008 10:29

THE city council ended the last financial year with money in the bank for the first time in five years, new figures have revealed.

The Lib Dem/SNP administration managed to balance the books and underspent by 600,000 in 2007-8. This compares to an overspend of 5.6 million by the previous Labour administration in 2006-7.

But Labour councillors today said the turnaround was only achieved after the new administration introduced "more cuts than Thatcher".

The 600,000 surplus was reached after a crackdown was launched on people falsely claiming single person council tax discount, which – along with more houses being built – helped bring in 5m more council tax than expected.

The administration also benefited from a reduction in loan charges, otherwise its general fund would have overspent by around 8m.

City finance leader Gordon Mackenzie said: "Had the administration not taken prompt action we would be facing a massive overspend with disastrous effects across council services."

New Labour group leader Andrew Burns said: "They slashed services left, right and centre – but after all that pain, they would still have gone over-budget."