Council set for £30m cuts after budget deal
Glasgow City Council is looking to cut more than £30million from services next year after the Scottish Government revealed its draft budget.
The cut is less than previously expected with the City Treasurer initially planning for a £57m cut.
The council is launching a consultation on the budget until the end of January before plans will be finalised.
In October, Allan Gow, City Treasurer, told the Evening Times he was expecting a cut of 2.5% from the Scottish Government but said it is now expected to be 1.2%.
With other financial pressures and spending implications the council now estimates the budget gap will be reduced by £24m to £33m.
Mr Gow said the council was getting a better deal than expected but savings still had to be found. He said: “There was no rolling back of the austerity that has limited public spending when the Chancellor made his autumn statement last month.
“However following on from the draft budget that the Cabinet Secretary presented last week, where local government got a better deal than many expected, we have been able to lower our savings target for next year.”
He said the process would start to work with departments within the council to ensure it can still deliver the essential services
Mr Gow added: “I’m now working closely with officers and services across the council family to identify not only how we close the remaining spending gap, but how we use the whole of the city’s budget to deliver on people’s priorities.”
Mr Mackay said last week that councils were receiving a flat settlement and said that to receive an increase local authorities could increase council tax.
However, the deal will still see Glasgow forced to make tens of millions of pounds worth of cuts.
Raising the council tax by the maximum permitted 3% will only raise an additional £7m from households in the city.
Mr Gow said previously that the cuts didn’t necessarily mean job losses for council staff.
He said he wanted to focus on the remaining cash that he will have at his disposal and how services can be delivered better and more efficiently.
However, he also said it is possible that the council will not be able to deliver all services it currently provides.