Birmingham city councillors will one day be met with a note echoing Liam Byrne's famous "there's no money left" letter if the budget crisis continues to spiral out of control, it has been claimed.
But a vote of no confidence tabled by opposition Conservatives was easily voted down by the ruling Labour group.
It came as Labour bosses wrestle with a budget deficit of between £37 million and £49 million and the prospect of more cuts ahead.
The council's new budget setting will now be put to independent financial review to ensure it stacks up.
Tabling the motion, Coun Ken Wood (Con Sutton New Hall), in calling for the Labour group to go, said: "How long before we find a post-it note saying 'there's no money left'?"
Meanwhile, Lib Dem leader Coun Jon Hunt (Perry Barr) said the citizens of Birmingham and their services were stuck between an incompetent Labour council and the Tory government's austerity cuts.
Responding to the criticism, Labour leader Coun John Clancy (Quinton) stormed: "This is a difficult budget.
"We are reaching the end of a situation where £600 million of cuts have been made since 2010.
"We are under attack from a government which can't even balance its own budget."
He added that Labour inherited massive equal pay liabilities and expensive contracts with Service Birmingham and highways firm Amey from the previous Tory-Lib Dem administration.
