Discussions between group leaders on the rejected Powys County Council budget have started.
But the onus on changes to the budget will be down to internal discussions within the Independent/Conservative ruling groups.
On Monday afternoon opposition group leaders sat down with Council Leader and Independent group leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris and deputy leader and Conservative group leader, Cllr Aled Davies.
They needed to find a way forward with the Powys County Council’s budget, which was thrown out by councillors by just one vote last Thursday.
Discussions centred on trying to re-jig some of the cuts, with libraries, youth services and a rise to school dinner fees discussed.
All changes will need to scrutinised by finance officers to ensure that the budget remains balanced and can be signed off by the chief financial s151 officer.
Council Leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris, said: “We had a good meeting, it was very helpful but there’s no result as everyone has to go back to their groups for discussion and mine meets on Thursday.
“It was very positive as we talked through our difficulties in the cuts we don’t like and there were suggestions, but we are getting short of time.”
Liberal Democrat and Green group leader, Cllr James Gibson-Watt, said: “We are no close to getting things resolved.
“Reserves have been used over the last couple years to paper over the overspend in some departments and this year was the crunch for Powys.
“We had a good discussion without coming to a resolution, there are no more formal talks planned but we’ll continue discussing things over the phone or email.
“It’s really down to the ruling groups to come forward with a solution.”
Labour group leader, Cllr Mathew Dorrance said it was not so gloomy and believed the talks were a start. He said: “Group leaders have started talks to build consensus after the administration’s budget was defeated last week.
“This is just the start of the process to try and set a council budget and there is a lot of work to do within a limited time frame.
“No final proposal has been agreed so the work must continue.”
Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, said: “The meeting was very cordial and we went through several options of taking things out of the list and using other forms of funding instead.
“There was no talk of changing leader, it’s down to the ruling groups to get their house in order.
“The agenda papers for 7 March have to be sent out on Friday.”
Finance portfolio holder and Conservative group leader, Cllr Aled Davies, said: "We have to continue to try and set a balanced budget. This is critical, not to do so puts service delivery at high risk."
