Latest news with #financialshortfall
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Kent County Council asks residents for ideas over £50m shortfall
A council is asking residents for suggestions for how funds could be spent in the next financial appeal comes after Kent County Council (KCC) announced it was facing a shortfall of £50m for the 2026-27 Reform UK-led authority said that "difficult money-saving decisions will be necessary".But opposition councillors believe that the figure could be much higher. The council, which according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service is in financial peril due to years of squeezed funding and soaring costs, must set a balanced budget by wants to hear about which services residents wish to protect, how savings could be made and suggestions for how it could generate more income as part of its consultation the country's largest local authority with a population of 1.6m, excluding Medway, it receives about £2.6bn, with a net income of £ council has been trying to find ways of reducing high-spend areas, such as the near £100m bill for special needs pupils' home-to-school transport, to drive down overall previous Conservative administration warned that the income did not match its outgoings, especially since adult social care bills continue to rise each year. 'On the low side' Deputy leader, Brian Collins (Reform UK), said its priority was "to achieve financial stability"."Our Department for Local Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been working since day one in May, and is working to identify areas of waste," he said."So far we have seen a new approach to potholes and a review of home-to-school transport bills. This work continues at pace."Conservative former deputy finance cabinet member Harry Rayner said: "I suspect the £50m shortfall mentioned by the new administration would appear, to me, to be on the low side."It will face the same difficulties we faced and that councils are facing all over the country."
CTV News
07-08-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Windsor Youth Centre pleads for donations amid $200,000 funding shortfall
Without a new funding source, the Windsor Youth Centre's Wyandotte Street East building could be forced to close, seen on Aug. 7, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) Under the pressures of rising demand and fewer donations, the Windsor Youth Centre (WYC) is turning to the public to address financial pressures. Run as a program under the Downtown Mission, the WYC launched an urgent fundraising initiative on Thursday morning to help address a $200,000 shortfall. The centre is asking for community leaders, businesses and organizations to step forward with a $10,000 donation this year and next year. Through the 'Vital Services for Vulnerable Youth' fundraiser, the centre aims to raise at least $100,000 by Dec. 31, and an additional $100,000 by June 30, 2026. 'I think we're $200,000 away from worst-case scenario,' said Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, the mission's executive director. 'I'm confident that Windsor-Essex will come in and join us and help us keep these young people safe and keep them going forward with hope.' The WYC offers several programs, drop-in services, and meals to youth aged 16 to 25. So far, the centre has recorded more than 15,000 visits in 2025. Windsor Youth Centre Rukshini Ponniah-Goulin, left, and Ashley Marchand, are turning to the public for help funding the Windsor Youth Centre, seen on Aug. 7, 2025. (Robert Lothian/CTV News Windsor) Without funding to address their financial needs, the mission will have to close the WYC site on Wyandotte Street East. 'We do want to keep all of the services of the Windsor Youth Centre going. We don't want to reduce ours as we have had to in the past,' Ponniah-Goulin noted. The centre relies entirely on grants and donations to keep its doors open and does not receive any consistent government funding. 'Some grants that we've applied for, unfortunately, we haven't been able to get,' Ponniah-Goulin said. Annually, the WYC spends about $450,000 on programs, staff, and building costs. In an email to CTV News, Andrew Dowie, the MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh, did not directly answer questions about providing consistent funding to the centre. 'I met with representatives of the Windsor Youth Centre this spring, and at that time shared with them some of the provincial funding programs that can be applied for, including the Ontario Trillium Foundation,' Dowie wrote. At a news conference on Thursday, Michael Nicholls, 30, credited the WYC for helping him turn his life around after he stumbled upon it. 'I was just hanging out with the wrong people, wrong time, getting myself into trouble trying to figure out how to set myself straight,' Nicholls said. Help from the centre allowed Nicholls to return to school and access programs for addiction and anger management. Today, Nicholls tests his cooking skills at the centre as a volunteer. 'I ended up going back there almost every day, finally realizing, wow, this is like a family,' Nicholls said. While the WYC serves under the Downtown Mission, Ashley Marchand, the director of Youth Services and Administration, warned that their shelter and youth services shouldn't be under the same roof. 'So, without having a place like ours to be able to feel safe, feel secure, they will be stuck in that survival mode and they will fail to be able to thrive forward,' Marchand said.
CTV News
07-08-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Sask. Polytech lays off 14, with more cuts likely to come
WATCH: Saskatchewan Polytechnic is laying off 27 people as a lack of international students is impacting revenues. Saskatchewan Polytechnic has issued layoff notices as the trade and technical school faces a financial shortfall due to a decline in international student enrolment. In an email to staff on Wednesday, Sask. Polytech President Larry Rosia said the school faced a 'substantial revenue shortfall for the 2025-26 academic year' that would affect programs and employees. 'Over the past few weeks, layoff notices have been issued to 14 out-of-scope employees and eight vacant out-of-scope positions will not be filled,' Rosia said in the internal email obtained by CTV News. The layoffs represent a 10 per cent reduction in its out-of-scope workforce, Rosia says. Alongside the layoffs, a number of departments and faculties are being dissolved or merged. The faculty of business and management and the faculty of digital innovation, arts and sciences are being consolidated under a single dean, according to the internal email. Two offices working under Provost Has Malik have been dissolved, Rosia said. 'These are difficult decisions to make as they impact our colleagues' employment. We are deeply grateful for the contributions and dedication of those affected. Their work has been valued and appreciated by all of us at Sask. Polytech,' said Rosia. Rosia has faced criticism in the past from the SGEU, which represents non-academic staff at the post-secondary institution. In December 2024, the union expressed concerns over a 68 per cent growth in the number of management positions under his leadership, while the rest of the workforce grew by only three per cent. The union accused Rosia — who made a total $563,764 in 2024, according to public disclosures — of laying off in-scope employees to help cover the cost of new management positions. Now, as federal immigration policy changes have chewed into international student enrolment and the school's cash cow has been put out to pasture, it appears even managers could be on the chopping block. In his email to staff, Rosia warns that 'looking ahead, more difficult decision will be necessary' as the school navigates the financial pressures. In a news release Thursday morning, the provincial NDP and the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Faculty Association (SPFA) said the school has come to rely on high-paying international students to compensate for insufficient provincial funding. The faculty association says 27 staff members were already laid off earlier this year. 'The Sask. Party should have never starved our post-secondary schools of funding,' NDP MLA Tajinder Grewal said. 'We should never have been in this position in the first place.'
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
West Berkshire Council facing up to £37m debt due to SEND services
A council is facing a significant financial shortfall without a government bailout, a report has Berkshire Council has a projected debt of up to £37m in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) schools provision, according to a report to the council's report said both the number of clients being supported by the service and the cost of delivering that support had risen due to the increasing complexity of council executive will discuss the issue on Thursday. The Dedicated Schools Grants, and within it the High Needs Block, comes from central government and funds SEND report said this year's overspend of almost £7m was forecast to increase in the short term to around £20m per would "quickly propel this year's closing cumulative deficit of £17m to £73m by 2027/8 if all currently planned mitigations are realised and almost £95m without them, the report is currently a statutory override in place for all councils until March 2026 at which point, if nothing changed, the liability – projected to be between £31m and £37m – would fall to the of the statutory override could result in the immediate issue of a bankruptcy notice. Increasing complexity While the number of children in West Berkshire Council's care has stabilised, the complexity of needs is still services has secured funding in 2025/26 for a dedicated commissioning and brokerage team to ensure placements are both appropriate and affordable, which aims to save £3m over the period of the education service has also incurred significant agency costs as key posts - namely for educational psychologists, which it said it finds hard to recruit. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
CBC
12-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Pride Toronto links funding woes to Trump's anti-DEI agenda
Pride Toronto says the festival faces a major financial shortfall after multiple corporate sponsors pulled their support, which the festival's executive director links to American companies moving away from DEI efforts under the Trump administration.
