Powys County Council’s surplus from last year’s budget will be squirrelled away into its reserves, only to be used in an emergency.

In 2025/2026, the council ended with a £1.222m surplus.

The final position of the budget was reported to Powys County Council’s cabinet members at a meeting on 28 July.

Finance portfolio holder Cllr David Thomas told the meeting: “The year-end underspend allows the council to strengthen its reserve position.

“This will allow us to set aside funding for things such as school improvements, cyber resilience, digital transformation and dealing with storm impacts.

“The general reserve fund increase to £12.3m represents four per cent of the council’s revenue budget.”

He added that the “majority” of council departments had “performed well” from a financial perspective last year.

The “general fund reserve” is the account that is supposed to be used first to plug budget gaps.

The report also shows that the council’s total usable reserves have gone up from £61.894m on April 1, 2025, to £72.009m as of March 31.

Cllr Thomas said: “The bottom line really is that the council delivered a positive underspend, achieved most of its savings programme, strengthened reserves for future risks and maintained financial stability despite significant economic pressures.

“However, long-term financial challenges and undelivered savings remain significant concerns.”

To balance the books, £16m worth of cuts and efficiencies were needed, and this included £3.7m from past budgets.

£12.358m of these cuts and efficiencies had been actually achieved, which was £2.697m short of the target.

Of this total, £979,000 worth of savings had been found by departments to replace proposals that had fallen through during the year.

Cllr Thomas said the undelivered savings had been rolled over into this year’s budget.