Council tax and rents look set to soar
COUNCIL tax and rents are set to soar in East Renfrewshire.
Local authority chiefs will propose a three per cent rise in council tax across all bands at a meeting of the full council tomorrow, which was postponed due to the adverse weather.
Council tenants will have to pay more than £300-a-year more on average, if proposals are agreed.
It comes as council leader Tony Buchanan admitted he must make £24million of savings by 2021.
He said: “It’s been the most difficult budget I’ve faced in my time as a councillor.”
Under the proposals, those in council tax band A will pay £796, up from £773. And residents in band H will spend £2926 – an increase of £85 a year.
The average council rent will also jump from £72.80 to more than £75 in April before increasing again to more than £78 in April 2019, if the proposals are accepted by councillors.
The council received over £3million more in funding from the Scottish Government this year than in 2017.
But despite being granted £179million this year, the administration must still save £24million over the next three years.
Councillor Buchanan said: “The settlement has enabled us to address many of the challenges and we’ve been able to push back some of the challenges that we faced in 2018/19 to future years.”
There will now be no cuts to the roads maintenance budget despite initial plans to reduce it by £400,000 over the next three years.
If the proposals are passed, the council plans to cut funding for community wardens by £164,000 over the next three years.