Next council faces bridging £50m funding black hole

Bridging a funding black hole of up to £50 million over the next four years is the main challenge for the next council.

The council is projecting it will lose a quarter of its current annual budget by 2020.

The council also elected to raise the council tax for the first time in 11 years in February in a bid to address part of the funding gap.

This led to complaints from the upper bands who were hit with a double whammy of increases, with the top band facing a 26% hike on their annual bills.

The council employs 500 fewer staff than five years ago, and the past term has seen cuts on home care services including the community alarm, and the introduction of a charge for gardening waste.

Some recycling centres are to close and others had their opening hours cut.

But these changes have only gone a small way to addressing the looming shortfall, which is partly a result of a reduction in the grant from the Scottish Government.

The SNP’s finance spokesman Bill Duff has previously set out his party’s vision that the council needs to become “nimbler, more efficient, more digital and smarter”.

He also outlined the possibility the council will commission services rather than deliver them, and collaborate more with neighbouring authorities.

The authority will focus on becoming a ‘digital council’ with more services delivered online by fewer staff. Vacant posts will be analysed to see if they are still needed.

The council is also planning to sell council-owned buildings as more employees ‘hot desking’ has reduced the need for office space.

Consultant EY have been employed to work with the council in cutting costs on the basis that they will take a percentage of any savings found.

Picture: Kim Cessford. Laura Dunbar was among protesters voicing concerns about the proposed closure of some of the recycling centres in Angus ahead of a council meeting.