Nottingham City Council is paying an external financial consultant £110,000 for five months work as it seeks to balance its books.
Following the failures in the council's energy company, Robin Hood Energy, the Government appointed an independently-chaired Improvement and Assurances Board.
Balancing its books is now a legal duty and, should it fail to meet expectations, commissioners will be sent in to take control of the council's operations.
These commissioners now have a going rate of £1,200 per day, a cost of which must be met by the taxpayer.
The city council established its Recovery and Improvement Plan in January last year, in which it set out how it aims to reach financial stability over the next couple of years.
The plan's name was changed this year because it had the initialism of 'R.I.P'.
Council documents have now shown £110,000 has been approved to pay for an external financial consultant to "provide external financial expertise in relation to the issues raised in respect of council-owned companies through the Report in the Public Interest (RPI) on the council's governance arrangements for Robin Hood Energy."
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It comes after an additional £134,555 was approved to fund the employment of an interim corporate director for finance and resources, who is also the section 151 officer, between October last year and March 2022.
It had already paid for the employment of the director of finance with a spend of £139,000 between April 1 and September 31 last year.
Council documents state: "This decision seeks approval to award a contract extension from November 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 regarding the previously approved Delegated Decision to authorise expenditure for the appointment of a consultant to provide external financial expertise in response to the multiple issues raised in respect of companies within the Report in the Public Interest on Nottingham City Council's Governance Arrangements for Robin Hood Energy and the report arising from the NSR of Nottingham City Council.
"The total cost of the contract extension is £110,000 and will be incurred in 2021/22. The cost of this decision will be funded from the Improvement and Transformation reserve."
