Tough decisions to balance books
Council leader Eddie McAvoy has said frontline services will remain a priority but that there are tough choices ahead.
He said:“We don’t expect to be told by the Scottish Government what our 2017/18 grant will be for at least another month, but we expect it to fall yet again.
“This means we will need to find more savings, even though in recent years the council has been forced to take more than £120 million out of its budget.
“We have always tried to protect the key frontline services that local people rely upon, and we will continue to do that.
“But our services are already delivered efficiently and we are now long past the point of being able to trim without causing pain.
“The bottom line is that the savings we will be forced to make are bound to have a further effect on the services we deliver.
“The proposals going before the executive committee have been developed by council officers based on the potential savings we might be forced to make.
“These are just options at the moment but we are legally obliged to balance our budget, so if any proposals in the package are rejected we need to find other ways to save the money.
“Councillors will ultimately have to make those tough decisions, but I want local people to let us know what they think too.”