Council fears it could lose £212k in Oswestry car parking fees
A council fears it could lose £212,000 in income from its car parks this year because of the lockdown.
Oswestry Town Council runs three in the town including Central car park, the largest one.
Shoppers and workers using the facilities over the years have ensured a guaranteed stream of income for the authority.
But when the coronavirus hit and the country went into lockdown the council made its parking free for several weeks, bringing it in line with Shropshire Council's decision to suspend charges across the county.
A report to tomorrow's town council meeting will give councillors a look at a revised budget for 2020/21, in light of the pandemic, which estimates a loss of up to £212,000 in parking revenue.
Further losses include £25,000 on property rents, £5,000 for its services to the National Association of British Market Authorities, as well as a drop in public convenience usage, market income and bank interest.
However, the council's finance officer Roger Dyke said: "To some extent this has been compensated for by cost savings, particularly in staffing costs where a potential £30,000 could be saved by not appointing a project manager for the council for the time being.
"There will also be cost savings on visitor centre operations, youth services, overtime, event cancellations, hanging basket/floral planters, Cae Glas Park maintenance contract and Tourist Information Centre costs."
Mr Dyke said because the council's balance of £2,233,402 at the end of March had been £93,189 higher than expected, the surplus money had boosted the 2020/21 budget and helped ease the effects of the pandemic on its current financial position.
He said that by also adding "cost saving mean balances", it would only reduce the budget by £20,262 over the next financial year.
"Obviously there is still a good deal of uncertainty of what will happen as we move through the year and further lockdowns could further seriously decimate our income," he said.
"Therefore it would be prudent to continue to budget very conservatively and look for cost savings wherever possible.
"It might also be worth reminding members the council has an established earmarked reserve of £70,000 for unforeseen losses as we will inevitably see this year."
Councillors will be asked at tomorrow night's online meeting to note the revised budget and suggest any further cost saving measures.
