by OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EDITOR
Scottish Borders Council which has warned of a double digit rise for local taxpayers next year borrowed a further £6 million from the Public Works Loans Board (PWLB) last month, adding to the £40 million already acquired in loans since the beginning of 2024.
Figures for April from the UK Treasury's Debt Management Office show the Borders local authority took the additional £6 million on the 23rd of the month with an interest rate payable of 5.4 per cent. The loan has a maturity date in April 2026.
As we reported previously, SBC had racked up £40 million of new debt between January 2024 and the end of the 2023/24 financial year on March 31st.
These were separate loans from the PWLB of £30 million on January 30th with an interest rate of 5.35% and a maturity date of January 30th 2025, followed by a further advance of £10 million taken on March 27th at 5.39% and with a maturity date of March 27th 2025.
The council confirmed it would pay interest of £1.605 million on the £30 million loan, and a further £539,000 on the money borrowed in March.
In 2022/23 total annual costs of loan charges linked to 46 PWLB loans together with LOBO loans and PPP financing stood at £16.1 million, equivalent to 7.6% of the overall revenue budget.
The PWLB loans are used to pay for capital expenditure projects.
The revenue expenditure to pay for council services in 2024/25 [including interest charges] required a £10 million raid on balances together with savings of £4.4 million with at least £5 million to be trimmed from spending in 2025/26.
According to a statement issued in February: "Significant financial pressures, including inflationary pressures of £6.7 million leave us in the stark position of having to both increase council tax rates and make permanent service reductions in the future to balance the books.
"Budget plans include an indicative increase of ten per cent (in council tax) for 2025/26 followed by five per cent increases in the three subsequent years. These will however not be formally set until the annual budget is considered each year as normal".
The Debt Management Office has also provided all public authorities in England, Wales and Scotland with audit statements showing the outstanding balances and year end values on their PWLB loans as of March 31st, 2024. It shows SBC owes the PWLB £213.736 million.
This is the data for Scottish Borders Council's 46 loans. The first column shows the year the loan was taken; column two indicates the maturity date; then the outstanding balance in each case; and finally the so-called year-end value or fair value of each transaction.
1993 2053 £507,816 £834,793
1993 2053 £60,839 £98,726
1994 2053 £1,354,176 £2,002,246
1995 2024 £381,114 £402,770
1995 2055 £2,031,264 £3,412,901
1996 2055 £2,031,264 £3,395,661
1996 2055 £1,692,720 £2,895,476
1996 2055 £1,692,720 £2,895,476
1996 2055 £1,692,720 £2,895,476
1996 2055 £1,692,720 £2,895,476
1996 2054 £667,088 £1,134,683
1996 2054 £667,088 £1,134,683
1996 2053 £1,963,556 £3,154,484
1997 2051 £2,288,994 £3,484,444
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £2,072,768
1997 2027 £1,291,858 £1,450,520
1997 2026 £3,385,441 £4,749,084
1997 2026 £1,608,589 £1,742,327
1997 2057 £1,354,176 £1,889,755
1997 2047 £2,350,104 £3,085,537
1997 2047 £1,354,176 £1,777,947
1998 2052 £1,481,383 £1,930,334
1998 2058 £2,708,353 £3,270,966
1998 2054 £2,031,264 £2,268,670
1999 2057 £1,692,720 £1,905,898
1999 2057 £1,692,720 £1,905,898
2000 2054 £2,031,264 £2,406,181
2000 2054 £1,354,176 £1,570,671
2001 2061 £3,031,233 £3,589,540
2007 2052 £10,000,000 £10,347,132
2007 2052 £24,000,000 £25,638,166
2007 2052 £24,000,000 £25,638,166
2007 2057 £2,000,000 £2,108,566
2016 2026 £4,000,000 £3,790,797
2017 2027 £8,000,000 £7,604,304
2017 2027 £10,000,000 £9,433,494
2018 2048 £10,000,000 £7,728,433
2019 2034 £7,500,000 £6,121,689
2022 2032 £20,000,000 £18,245,852
2024 2025 £30,000,000 £30,493,169
2024 2025 £10,000,000 £10,098,005
NOTE: The £6 million loan was arranged after the end of financial year 2023/24 and is not included in the table above.
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