The controversial postponement of Norfolk County Council’s elections will save £1.5m - but council leaders say the cash will not be used to stave off looming multi-million-pound cuts.
Voters had been due to head to the ballot box in May, with all 84 councillors at County Hall up for election for the first time in four years.
But deputy prime minister Angela Rayner announced those elections would be postponed after Norfolk was put on the government priority list for devolution.
She said the election needed to be put on hold so the council can focus on working with other council leaders to come up with proposals for local government reorganisation.
That will see all eight Norfolk councils scrapped and new, unitary authorities formed, and a combined authority, led by a Norfolk and Suffolk mayor.
READ MORE: 'Irreversible damage' warning over Norfolk council shake-up
Kay Mason Billig, leader of the Conservative-controlled county council, revealed putting the elections on hold for a year would save £1.46m.
But, in response to a question posed at a recent council meeting by Steve Morphew, leader of the Labour group, she ruled out the money being used to ease the £45m of cuts and savings the council is due to agree next Tuesday.
She said: "It would not be prudent in general to release funds from the election reserve as they will ultimately be needed for election costs, this is not spare money.
"In other words, the funds held in reserve will ultimately be required to meet the costs of future elections, whenever they occur.
"It is not prudent to propose that the funds should be used for another purpose as this would result in a significant one-off, unfunded, requirement in a future year."
The Liberal Democrat Alliance group tabled a motion at a meeting of the full council for the money to be used to "support our most vulnerable residents".
They called for several options for how to use it to be drawn up, but the motion was rejected.
The postponement of the elections has prompted criticism from the Lib Dems, the Greens and Reform UK.
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