MASSIVE job cuts are feared at Somerset County Council as the authority grapples with a £44 million budget crisis just weeks after a new administration was voted into power.

The concern also comes ahead of the council appointing a new chief executive on a salary of £200,000 a year, a decision due to be taken on Wednesday (July 20).

The Wellington Weekly/Free Press has seen a bluntly-written letter to all staff from outgoing chief executive Pat Flaherty which warns them of the problems they now face.

Mr Flaherty said early budget-setting papers for the new council and financial projections for the current year would shortly be published

He said: “This will not be good news.

“As you might expect, inflation is having a dramatic impact, both on current spending and on our future planning.”

He said the budget gap for the new council had grown from a ‘challenging but manageable’ £28 million to around £44 million.

“The move to a unitary council will help us to bridge some of that gap, but not all of it,” he said.

“At the same time, our current budget is being hit by inflation and by regulatory and market changes in our demand-driven care services.

“Our current projection is that, without action, the council will overspend by £19 million this year, well outside of our contingency.”

The news came just six weeks after the Liberal Democrats, who took control from the Conservatives in May’s elections, announced their executive team to run the council.

Council leader Cllr Bill Revans doubled the number of ‘executive’ and ‘associate lead’ councillors who receive extra allowances on top of their basic ‘pay’ for the additional responsibilities.

Mr Flaherty said: “Obviously, action will have to be taken to avoid that overspend and I am writing to alert you all to that fact.

“We will be developing plans over the coming weeks.

“Local government has been here before and of course the rest of the sector is facing the same prospect.

“The tight financial management we have put in place of recent years has meant that we are one the first councils to come to terms with the scale of the problem.

“We have made remarkable savings over more than a decade, but the combination of austerity and high inflation is new and will bring particular challenges.

‘Rest assured we will keep you in the loop and discuss.”