Powys County Council could operate for just under three months if it had to just depend on its reserves, a finance chief has said.

At the end of March, the council had a total £73.160 million that it holds in various reserve accounts, and it is predicted that it will use £25.777 million during the course of this year.

At a Cabinet meeting on 30 July, Cllr Jake Berriman said he had seen discussion on social media over the council using reserves with finances tight.

“Why are we holding this money and why can’t we spend it,” he asked.

“How quickly would we spend it, if we just released it to our services?

“I fear it would not be very long.”

Director of corporate services Jane Thomas said: “Every authority needs to hold a level of reserves to be able to respond to those unexpected things that may come our way.

“In terms of our usable reserves they stand at around £50 million.

“If we were to look at how long they would keep the council ticking over, when we look at what we spend on a daily basis that £50 million would keep us going for 86 days.”