Orkney agrees to freeze council tax – but only if it receives an extra £1m
Orkney Islands Council has said it will accept the Scottish Government’s council tax freeze – but only if ministers come good on their promise to hand over an extra £1.1 million.
The council had been discussing proposals to ditch the Government’s council tax freeze and instead raise taxes by 10 per cent.
However, the local authority has provisionally agreed to the Government’s plan after Finance sec re tarysh on aro bisonwrote to the council promising more money–but only if councillors agreed to freeze council tax.
This comes after Argyll and Bute council rejected the government’ s council tax freeze and will now raise the tax by 10 per cent.
Orkney council leader Heather Woodbridge said the council’s finances were “unsustainable” as the local authority needed to save £9m over the next three years. At a meeting yesterday councillors agreed to the council tax freeze while also taking £20m out of its strategic reserves fund.
Councillor wood bridge said: “whether that’s a household budget or a council one our communities must be aware of the challenges, not just this year, but also for the years ahead.”
The Scottish Government said in the 2024/25 Budget it would cover a 5 per cent increase in council tax, allowing local authorities to freeze amounts for the next year. This would have given Orkney Islands Council just over £565,000 – a 10 per cent increase in council tax would have brought in £1.2m.
UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is due to set his spring budget next week and is expected to pass on additional funding to the Scottish Government through Barnett consequentials. Ms Robison has pledged to hand over some of this money to councils, including an extra £1.1m for Orkney. She said the council could now receive £240,990 from the UK government’s Barnett allocation, alongside £900,000 from an islands’ cost-of-living allocation – but only if it agrees to freeze council tax. if the promised extra money doesn’ t materialise, the council says it will meet again on March 11 where proposals to increase council tax by 10 per cent will be back on the table bringing a Band D property to £1,506.