Will councils ask Mr Bumble for more, please?

Several expert commentators in the past few weeks have murmured warnings that just because councils have set budgets doesn't mean they can meet them. A cursory glance at the business pages of any newspaper will show that private companies set budgets for the year then discover for whatever reason that they are way off target and have to issue profit warnings, sack their chiefs etc. Are councils any different?
Steve Bundred is one of the latest finance experts to warn that budgets squeezed through with great difficulty could well go pear-shaped by the autumn. Most of the salami-slicing has already taken place and there is little scope to return to cutting out more lollipop ladies and voluntary sector grants. The next step, as the mantra goes, is transformation but these savings are long-term.
So far, despite a flurry of headlines about library closures early on in the year, councils and indeed ministers have avoided damaging tales of town hall financial crises and tragic case studies of deprived old folk. But come September and the first councils announce they have run out of money and offer up the begging bowl to Eric Pickles - a very apt Mr Bumble - and ask for more, please and the picture might be different.