Council tax is set to increase
Residentsfacehikebut£16mcutsstillneeded
Ratepayers in East Kilbride and Avondale face a first council tax hike in 10 years but £16 million worth of cuts are still needed to balance the books.
A raft of cuts options for 2018/19 will go before South Lanarkshire Council’s executive committee today.
And hard-pressed taxpayers could be hit in the pocket with a three per cent rise in council tax in a bid to stave off further cuts and raise an extra £3.8m for local authority coffers.
The council had been facing £23m worth of cuts but following the announcement of the block grant from the Scottish Government, this has been reduced by £6m.
However, crucial services and 134 jobs are still under threat.
The Ashley Grant Centre in Whitehills – which provides day care for the elderly – is still earmarked for closure, the cost of school meals could rise and there may be increased charges for community alert alarms for the first time in 17 years.
Motorists face being driven round the bend with £3m worth of proposed cuts to the council’s carriageway resurfacing programme.
The local authority are looking to slash the budget by £60,000 at Lindsay House homeless unit in East Kilbride by proposing to axe two council posts and the town’s Summer Fest faces a 35 per cent budget cut.
However, a number of items totalling £6m have been spared and removed from proposed savings package. These include:
●Cuts to the footway resurfacing programme.
●Reduced opening hours at St Leonards Library.
●Increasing the primary one class size to 25 pupils in 10 schools, including Castlefield and Maxwellton primaries in East Kilbride.
●A rise to the taper for nonresidential care services (excluding meals on wheels and alert alarms).
Mobile library and home delivery service axed.
●Reduced opening hours at Strathaven Leisure Centre.
●Glassford pitch removed from SLLC booking schedule.
●Sole bar rights at Ballerup Hall introduced.
New initiatives totalling £685,000 are also set to go before councillors. These include free breakfast clubs, increase in core funding to third sector organisations and extending free access for Under-16s clubs.
The final decision on budget cuts is expected to be postponed to a later date to go before a special meeting of the council.
Crucial services and 134 jobs are still under threat...