OFFICIALS at Malvern Town Council say exceptional circumstances were the reason behind the authority having a deficit of more than £33,000 and not ‘unauthorised spending’ as claimed by an outspoken former councillor, by Craig Gibbons and Joshua Godfrey.
The year end accounts for 2016/17 showed the council had a deficit of £33,685 which has resulted in a reduction in their overall reserves.
A report showed the council received £20,000 less income they had previously budgeted for.
This was down to the lower than expected cemetery income and because the ground floor shop at Belle Vue Terrace was empty for most of the year.
The cost of two unexpected by-elections last year also resulted in an overspend of £11,000.
Town clerk Linda Blake said: “This deficit was a one-off through exceptional circumstances.
“Unfortunately a lot of things happened in one year which were out of the council’s control but the figure could have been a whole lot more had it not been for some careful monitoring of expenditure.
“We are reviewing the accounts every quarter and one of the projects being looked at by our policy and resources committee is the income and expenditure for the cemetery which shows we are reacting.
“The council needs to make sure that the charges are set at the right level and also make sure that expenditure is achieving best value because we recognise that income from the cemetery is falling.
“The budgets are now in place for this year, they have been extensively looked at and look like they are robust.”
Mayor Coun Cynthia Palmer added: “When you set a budget in October 2015 which does not start until April 2016 and goes all the way through to 2017, you just do not know what is going to happen which could affect the funds available.
“If it had not been for the things which have happened this council year, on paper we could actually say we were in credit.”
However, former town councillor Mike Charles, who stood down from his role in January after 20 years of representing the Dyson Perrins ward, attacked the Mayor for spending public money without council authorisation or knowledge.
He claimed Coun Palmer kept the costs of a trip to the Pyrenees for a twinning ceremony hidden and formed a small sub-committee to increase the town clerk’s salary by £16,000, taking it up to £60,000.
Mr Charles added the cost of a sound system worth more than £3,000 contributed to the deficit when a quote for a similar system from a local supplier was allegedly worth £360.
In response Mrs Blake said: “To say the deficit is entirely down to changes to my salary is totally inaccurate.
“All management and administration salaries were reviewed by the town council staffing committee who are responsible for such matters as per their official terms of reference.
“The cost of the trip to the Pyrenees was not hidden either.
“Coun Palmer submitted her expenses and these were within the budgeted level.”
Mrs Blake added the cheque was signed off by two other councillors and was visible on the authority’s payments schedule in case somebody wanted to query it.
She also told the Observer three quotes were received for a sound system and the one bought was well within the £3,500 budget for it and met the exact specifications the council required.
