A local authority has drawn up plans to cut dozens of jobs and slash services to avoid a council tax hike of more than 20% - reports the Manchester Evening News.
Council chiefs in Oldham have revealed they would face a staggering black hole of £13.6m in their accounts for 2008/9 - even if they repeated last year's tax rise of 4.9%.
To close the gap they would need to increase council tax by around 21%.
Instead they have drafted a report listing cost-cutting measures that would total £17.15m. They include the loss of 32 jobs and the closure of five lifelong learning centres.
Other proposed savings include reducing agency costs, more efficient purchases of goods and services, and a review of the council's property holdings.
These options will now go out to consultation before final decisions are taken in February.
Finance chiefs have highlighted inflation and a loss of external funding as major reasons behind the shortfall.
They added that the decision to invest in the Building Schools for the Future programme, where a £1m investment was required to secure more than £200m of external funding, provided further pressure.
David Jones, the Labour group and council leader, said: "Our finance team forecast the pressures we would face next year at a very early stage, giving us plenty of time to develop sensible solutions.
"Oldham is way ahead of many other local authorities in developing options early."
But Coun Howard Sykes, Lib Dem opposition leader, criticised the council and said the report was `unclear'.
He said: "It is very difficult to believe that they can carve this much out of the budget without it affecting services. I think they are being forced to look under the rug. I don't know exactly what they mean in the report but we will be tracking it closely and find out.
"Mike Williamson, of the GMB Union, agreed. He accused the council of using `gobbledygook' and said there would be `an obvious impact on services and jobs'.
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