TEIGNBRIDGE Council has managed to stave off a deficit of £353,000, ending the financial year with a surplus of £99,000. Leader Cllr Alan Connett could barely conceal his triumph as he made the announcement at Friday's full council meeting. The surplus was achieved by spending less on services – £13.9m instead of the budgeted £14.1m. 'This is a better-than- expected performance and means the money will be carried forward to the current year to be spent on services, as planned,' said Cllr Connett. The council also spent less on major projects – capital expenditure – than budgeted, £5.7m against the original budget of £10.6m. The major underspends were on flood alleviation works, Newton Abbot Market refurbishment and remediation works on contaminated land at Broadmeadow and Shutterton, formerly landfill sites. Last year £1.3m was spent on renovation grants. A further £1.5m went on play parks for young people and leisure facilities. A major project was the upgrade of Newton Abbot Leisure Centre, carried out in partnership with Newton Abbot Town and Devon County Councils and lottery funding. The capital budget was boosted through the sale of £1.4m of unwanted assets, leaving a healthy £7.2m in the pot for this year – of this, £2.9m will go on affordable housing. Cllr Connett admitted that Teignbridge Council's £32m share of the Devon County Council Pension Fund deficit reduced the council's net worth by 62 per cent. 'Last year it reduced it by 67 per cent, so it is getting better, but perhaps not as quickly as our employees would like.' The council, which is responsible for collecting council tax, ended the year with £500,000 more than expected. Cllr Connett regretted that Teignbridge only hung on to a fraction of this, the rest being shared between the county council, police and fire service. Collecting officers even managed to claw back £1,000 in unpaid community charge – the tax was withdrawn more than 10 years ago.
