A councillor has accused the previous Conservative administration of Rutland County Council of being 'timid' and 'indecisive' on spending.

The comments came from deputy leader of the council, Cllr Andrew Johnson.

He was speaking at a meeting on Monday 26 February to decide whether the current Liberal Democrat-run administration should have its budget proposals for the coming financial year adopted or not.

Cllr Johnson also attacked Rutland and Melton MP, Alicia Kearns for not doing enough to help the tax payers of the county.

"A 'Band D' council tax payer in Rutland next year will pay around £370 more than the average householder in England – how is this fair?" he asked.

"Is our MP, Alicia Kearns, doing anything to improve our lack of funding in Rutland? Doing anything to help the hard-pressed council tax payers of Rutland? Is she championing us by raising the fact that rural authorities like Rutland are penalised when it comes to funding?

"The latest funding statement on January 24, which did provide some welcome extra funding for rural counties, was partly the result of a letter sent by the county or party parliamentary group to Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove on January 12 this year. It was signed by a total of 46 MPs representing rural authorities from all parties… but was it signed by Alicia Kearns? No it wasn't.

"Why didn't she sign it? I'll leave it to members of the electorate to decide whether she really cares about council tax payers in Rutland – if you think you pay too much council tax, don't write to us, write to Alicia Kearns. It's her government that is to blame, and why isn't she prepared to do anything about it?"

Rutland County Council had been Conservative dominated, running the administration since 2003, until it collapsed in 2022 and a coalition of Tory and Independent councillors led the authority for a year.

In May 2023, following local elections, the Liberal Democrats emerged as the largest party and subsequently formed an executive led by Coun Gale Waller.

Each year, local authorities must put forward a budget proposal for the coming financial year.

Failure to do so can result in a section 114 notice being imposed, with financial decision-making taken away from the administration, and given to central government.

Northamptonshire, Birmingham and Nottingham councils have had section 114 notices.

Cllr Johnson went on to explain how Rutland County Council has arrived at the critical financial position it finds itself in, with cuts to funding and services required to balance the books this year.

"We've been dealt a doubly bad hand in Rutland this year: a bad hand from the central Conservative government and a bad hand from the previous administration at Rutland County Council that we inherited from the electorate when they voted for us last May.

"The previous administration was timid and indecisive. What decisions did they make to improve the life of tax payers in Rutland and improve the services and costs of running Rutland County Council? They were timid – they did not properly engage with the fact that the council was living beyond its means and was spending more cash than central government was providing for us.

"Instead they vacillated and left us with a retention and recruitment crisis where our employees were leaving in droves with no recovery plan, an ageing waste collection fleet that they had kept for so long it breaks down all the time, and even made the council unapproachable to many residents by closing down reception."

He added: "Their indecision and inability to grasp the difficult decisions has left us needing to make them. We have grasped the situation, and are fully engaged with the need to commit to a sustainable financial budget. Our task as councillors this evening is simple. We are assembled to set a sustainable budget for the financial year 2024/25 which reflects the ambitions of the council.

"Never before has planning for financial sustainability been more import – the budget before you ensures that we do not join the likes of Northamptonshire, Thurrock, Croydon, Birmingham, Nottingham city and others in the past in the past few years in going bust."

In response, former leader of the council, Cllr Lucy Stephenson said: "I don't think I've ever known such a political introduction, but perhaps it's no surprise in a general election year.

"However, in terms of the budget, I'm going to support this budget – it would be crazy not to. We need to have a budget that the chief financial officer can put forward to central government by March 11, so that if we were to turn down this budget it would leave Rutland in terrible danger and risk."

Thanking residents who took part in the most recent budget consultation, she highlighted that Rutlanders want good public services yet only 7% of the council's medium-term financial plan is committed to public services.

She added: "The majority of comments from the public didn't mention politics at all, they mention things that are important to them: leisure centres, specialist special education needs schools, potholes, drains being cleared so that they don't have their properties flooded or their day-to-day lives disrupted because they can't make those journeys.

"We members – absolutely every single one of us – have a duty over this next year… to square that very difficult round hole. We are not pleasing residents at the moment – some people said there should be no councillors at all, and talked of 'the horrid people at RCC'; but that's how our residents feel about us.

"They don't want to hear about petty-politics, they want to be reassured that 76% of the budget they have coughed up for is being spent wisely and properly. So, yes, I will be supporting this budget, but I hope in the next year we can leave politics behind."

Cllr Ramsay Ross said the reason they were being asked to support a budget that draws on reserves was because in September 2023 central government had decided 'not to provide the fair funding that it identified as being required to support the delivery requirements for services amounting to some £1.25 million'.

He added: "We are in the very fortunate position that through the good work of our officers this is possible, at least for 2024/25. It means, however, that Rutlanders will continue to have among the highest levels of council tax in England, while at the same time having the lowest wages and employment in the East Midlands – a rather unwelcome dichotomy."

Cllr Rosemary Powell said: "I would like to remind Coun Johnson that a significant number of councillors on this council are independent, so when you are referring to an 'opposition' and a 'party', we individually have our views on politics, so please don't group us all together.

"We make a significant contribution. We were part of the coalition administration last year, and put a lot of foundation work into the budget, and it appals me that we are lancing into political comments about blaming government, blaming the previous administration, when really what we need to do is to get on with what we can within this council chamber for our residents."

Members voted unanimously to support the proposed budget for the financial year 2024/25.