The negative outlook reflects the potential for the rating to come under pressure if the council achieves or exceeds those levels.

We think there are no magic puddings ... any new spending and tax cuts will need to be paid for by cuts elsewhere or at the expense of the bottom line.

The council's debt levels in the near term are likely to remain at levels consistent with the current ratings, despite rising.

The rating factors in the expectation that the consolidated net debt to operating revenue is likely to be lower than that implied by council's long term plans. The negative outlook reflects the potential for the rating to come under pressure if the council achieves or exceeds those levels.

We're not looking at this as an either/or, ... There's the potential we would have teams in both places.

We're really reducing the potential inflow, not cutting it off,