Balancing

Council il l leaderd Ji Jim L Logue says North Lanarkshire’s ruling Labour group decided against imposing a local increase to council tax after the announcement of the national- level rise affecting householders in the top four bands.

The local authority chose not to increase rates by up to three per cent – in addition to previously-announced Scottish Government multiplier changes affecting 27,000 households in the area – after making the decision at a late stage of their financial discussions following the Holyrood vote.

North Lanarkshire’s other key decision was the scrapping of the controversial £ 5- per- week charge for community alarms as part of an £11million investment in social care.

TheTh administration’sd i it ti ’ plansl tot balancebl the books for the year ahead include cuts totalling £ 7.5m and an overall reduction of 100 jobs – which included a “guarantee there will be no compulsory job losses” as they addressed an overall £27m budget reduction.

With North Lanarkshire becoming only the eighth of 29 Scottish councils to date not to add a local council tax increase, it means residents in properties banded E- H will see bills rise by the national increase of between £100 and £500 per year, but those in bands A-D will not see any change to bills.

Councillor Logue told the Advertiser: “Initially the prevailing view in the Labour group was that we should go for the three per cent increase – but the turning point for me and the majority of members was the multiplier decision.

“It’s attracted very little publicity but the amount of distress this will cause a lot lt of ff familiesili whenh theth envelopesl come through letterboxes is incredible;.

“To put an extra three per cent on there I thought was absolutely disgraceful. I want no part of this situation where we could effectively see some families facing a 25 per cent rise in council tax.

“A property tax is never a fair tax, it’s not based on income or the ability or capacity to pay.”

Finance convener Bob Burrows said: “Once we were aware the Scottish Government changed [the multiplier], it became a no-brainer.”

Presenting his first budget since taking the council helm a year ago, Councillor Logue said: “I’m determined we do all we can to avoid passing on Scottish Government budget cuts to our residents.

“This is a budget which invests where it is needed most – more money for vulnerable older adults, young adults

Budget summit North Lanarkshire Council’s headquarters