Questions are now being asked about the 'validity' of Liverpool Council's budget plans after the disastrous saga surrounding the authority's energy bills.
Council bosses are under increasing pressure over revelations that a series of calamitous errors within the Cunard operation have led to an extra £5m being added onto the local authority's energy bill and a potential total extra hit to the city of £16m. An explosive meeting of the ruling Labour group on Monday night saw councillors calling for cabinet members and senior officers to consider their positions.
On Friday, the ECHO revealed a shocking litany of mistakes, including how council officers failed to inform the mayor or cabinet members that the energy supplier it was agreeing to extend its contract with, Scottish Power, had stopped supplying commercial customers. As a result, no contingency plans were made and the council was automatically placed onto a far more expensive deal.
READ MORE: Anger, rows and resignation calls as Liverpool Labour group at war over £16m energy 'catastrophe'
Now another key question has been asked about the situation, concerning the city council's budget plans, which were approved in March. The controversial package of £20m in cuts included a very unpopular new £40-a-year green bin charge. A group of Labour councillors were so angered by the package of cuts that they quit to form a new independent group.
The council's opposition leader, Lib Dem boss Richard Kemp, has now written to the team of government commissioners, appointed last year to oversee improvements at the struggling council, to ask how the energy contract debacle could affect that approved budget.
Writing to the commissioners, he said: "All this has blown a huge hole in our budget for this year of £5 million. Had the full council known I think that a different budget would have been arrived at.
"To put this in perspective, £5m is more than we picked up from the 1.9% council tax increase outside the social care precept. Or to put it another way it is 50% of the increase in reserves that was agreed of £10 million. We will now have to raid those reserves for this year to pay for the increase and will then have to find £15 million of savings next year to both put the reserves back in shape and add the additional £10 million that has been suggested."
On this basis, Cllr Kemp has asked the commissioners whether the budget that was passed in March was lawful and whether a special meeting should now be called to introduce a new budget that takes into account that extra £5 million in energy costs. He also asked whether any action has been taken against those involved in the mess.
Monday night's Labour meeting, held behind closed doors, saw anger at the energy mess boil over, with calls from backbenchers for cabinet members and top officers to resign. A full, independent investigation into the situation is now taking place, with Mayor Joanne Anderson stating: "I want to make it clear to the city that I am seeking full accountability for this costly error and appropriate action will be taken once the full facts are established."
