Liverpool Council is facing further cuts of £73 million next year as the city's Mayor says the local authority is in a "dreadful" financial position.
Mayor Joanne Anderson and her cabinet met with the city's ruling Labour group and presented them with the grim budget options that have been worked up by council officers.
The cuts the council will have to find next year will take the amount that has been hacked away from the city's central government funding since 2010 past the £500m mark.
READ MORE: City centre restaurant manager caught with £60,000 cannabis farm in his loft
In a statement to the ECHO, Mayor Anderson outlined the perilous position the council is in. She said: "Cabinet have shared with Liverpool Labour Councillors the scale of the budget crisis we are facing. That we will have to spend £73 million less next year.
"Once again, we are in the dreadful position of having to set a balanced budget in a chronically underfunded council. We know that we are not alone in this. Government is failing councils across the country.
"More and more councils are struggling to balance their books and facing overspends. This is damaging the ability of councils to provide the services we desperately want to."
She added that the council's calls for a fairer, longer term funding settlement have been ignored, adding: "We do not feel hopeful. We have a Prime Minister who boasted about redirecting funding from northern councils.
"The Conservatives in Downing Street created this economic crisis – they had better not come to Liverpool asking our community to pick up the bill. Our message is clear – this is your mess, do not take it out on our communities.
"We want the people of our city to know that we are angry too. We did not vote for this government and yet it will be our local services, our people that are affected by cuts."
Mayor Anderson added that according to officer's calculations, households in Liverpool are £1,000 worse off each year under this government.
She added: "Our council has lost over half a billion from our budget. As Mayor and Cabinet we firmly believe our financial position is untenable. Government cannot ignore this funding emergency anymore."
While the council has suffered enormously with budget cuts since 2010, last year's damning government inspection revealed that millions had been wasted locally through poor decisions and bad investments. The council and its current leadership are still paying for those mistakes as the city is forced to fund expensive Whitehall commissioners who are overseeing key decisions in the Cunard.
On top of all of this, the soaring rates of inflation and borrowing mean the costs of providing services has also shot up for big councils like Liverpool. As a deprived city, more and more people are also now turning to the cash-strapped local authority for help and support.
The council and its leadership will continue to put together a number of difficult budget options, which could see services at risk. The various options will go out to public consultation before the council votes on the budget at a special meeting on March 1 next year.
READ MORE:
Cabbies helped snare taxi rapist in biggest manhunt in Merseyside history
Pregnant women living among cockroaches as Liverpool hits crisis point
City centre restaurant manager caught with £60,000 cannabis farm in his loft
