We’ll protect services, says council boss
Residents face council tax hike
Bosses at East Renfrewshire Council have given the thumbs-up to a three-year Budget plan that they say will protect frontline services, jobs and the area’s most vulnerable residents.
But they also approved an increase of three per cent to council tax in each of the next three years in order to meet the costs of this.
The council says it will deliver a balanced Budget in 2018/19 and had announced more than £1 million of investment in the coming year, which will support improvements across a range of services.
This will include a £ 250,000 investment in laptops and tablets in schools.
In addition, a reading recovery scheme, put in place last year to support pupils having difficulty, will also be extended for a further year and an additional £150,000 will be used to make improvements to mixed tenure properties.
East Renfrewshire council leader Tony Buchanan said: “We continue to face increased pressures linked to our rising elderly population and growing younger population in East Renfrewshire, which places a high demand on both our schools and social care services.
“New legislation such as recycling targets, landfill tax and welfare reform, also need to be considered when planning how best to deliver services in the future.
“So, while raising council tax was a tough choice, it was one that had to be made in order to protect the services people value most.
“Our ambition to deliver the very best for our residents is highlighted through our series of investments in the first year of this Budget process which will enhance the services we deliver.
“We have also listened to our residents and amended savings proposals to reflect their feedback as we try minimise the impact of the changes which require to be made in the way in which we deliver services.”
The council carried out a Budget consultation exercise last year, giving residents the opportunity to have their say on the savings options totalling £28 million available.
However, the three-year savings estimate is now £ 20.3m as the Budget settlement from the Scottish Government was better than originally estimated and councillors agreed to reduce required savings by using of £1.5 million of reserves in each of the next three years.
An investment of approximately £183 million is to be made in capital infrastructure projects over the next eight years to drive growth and create jobs.
Councillor Buchanan added: “With the reduction of our savings target, we have been able to remove some of the most difficult savings options from the table.
“This includes minimising the reduction in budgets devolved to head teachers and maintaining the roads budget at £ 4 million for the coming years – two of the main issues highlighted during the public consultation.
“In addition, due to the council’s sound long-term financial planning, we currently have a healthy level of reserves so, by utilising these, it has allowed us to further offset the impact of savings.
“We have also chosen to leave a slight shortfall in the final year of less than £2 million – which is less than one per cent of our overall budget.
“This will allow us to reassess the situation next year when there will be a clearer funding picture available from the Scottish Government – as we believe it is better to leave this slight gap rather than commit to savings that might ultimately not need to be made.
“Taking these steps also reduces the savings target to £20.3 million – some £7.7 million less than had initially been anticipated.”
Of the council savings needed over the next three years, it is expected that almost 70 per cent – £9.6 million – will be achieved through being more efficient, bosses added.