OPPOSITION parties on Dorset Council have questioned the ruling Conservative claims that they will be able to deliver a balanced budget.

Lib Dem group leader, Cllr Nick Ireland, says there is a fear that savings might have to be achieved through job cuts – from a workforce already stretched.

He has also questioned how the Tories can claim a balanced budget while planning to take money from reserves – despite their own rules which should prevent that happening.

The Conservative group is currently suggesting a rise in the Dorset Council share of the council tax from April of just under 5per cent. The authority is already one of the highest charging in the country. The final decision will be made at the February full council meeting.

Said Cllr Ireland: "Every Dorset Council budget so far has been overspent and topped up from reserves; the budgets were never balanced in reality."

He says that councillors are being told that the projected £12million deficit from the 23/24 financial year should be made up by savings.

"Councillors have been given scant details of how this £12m will be met but that's around 500 staff on a payroll basis and the expectation is that there will be a reduction via job cuts and attrition of a similar number in the organisation. So the proposed budget is fundamentally 'balanced' by redundancies when most departments are struggling with insufficient staff already," said Cllr Ireland.

He also accuses the Conservatives of not being open about the 50-plus 'transformation' projects planned across the organisation, the details of many not being known.

Transformation is the phrase usually attributed to "spend to save" projected at the council or by operating services in a different way.

"Given the 'transformation' involves at least 54 (unspecified) projects across the organisation, there's therefore an opportunity to mask budget overspends as yet to be achieved transformations and essentially gives a £12m buffer which might just possibly allow the outturn of 24/25 to be technically 'underspent', said the leader of the main opposition group.

Cllr Ireland says that Dorset Council also has a need to generate more income – yet the budget papers are devoid of information about how this will be achieved, other than by increasing charges and fees.

Both he and the leader of the Independent group, Cllr Les Fry, say that no opposition group is able to produce a complete alternative budget because they are not given sufficient access to the officers of the council to produce one.

The Green Party councillors say they are still discussing their stance on the budget proposals and will not have formulated a view until next week.

Said Labour's only councillor on the authority, Portland's Paul Kimber: "My concerns are for the very poorest in our Dorset community, the people that are reliant on food banks and the families that are struggling to get by with the need for decent housing.

"With the proposed council tax increase, it's going to be very difficult for our communities to get by…The Government must and should assist Dorset Council with better grant funding."