Stumping up more for school meals and music tuition fees
There are winners and losers in this year’s budget as the council attempts to plug a £6.7million gap in funding
Charges for services across the council – with the exception of school milk – will rise an average of 3.5 per cent.
There will be an increase in charges for cemetery lairs and interments and for school meals.
Locals will also see a rise in the cost of a number of services, including primary school lets, the cost of hiring the burgh Halls in Linlithgow and an increase in music tuition fees.
Council fees will rise and officers have been instructed to identify new potential for charging for non-statutory services and hours will be cut at some facilities.
This includes changes to opening hours at Fauldhouse swimming pool, which will now close at 7.30pm on a Monday and Thursday and 1pm on a Saturday.
And hours at Armadale, Whitburn, blackburn and broxburn Customer Information Services will be reduced by 3.5 hours a day to 10am to 3pm.
There will be reduced cleaning hours in schools during summer holidays and Friday afternoons and the cost of ordering a bulk uplift will rise to £30.
Councillors also agreed a review of the Community Safety Service and the Safer Neighbourhood Team and a review of adult day care services to identify efficiencies in community transport, external day care provision and the Community Inclusion Team.
Housing with care facilities will see a three per cent rent increase and there will be a rise in Telecare charges.
There will be a review of family support provision that will see the closure of centre-based facilities moving to supporting children in communities.
The adult learning budget will be slashed by 50 per cent and funding for twinning projects and groups will be removed.
The council says it was forced to make savings of over £120 million since 2007/08, with further savings of over £31 million estimated for the three years to 2022/23.
It has stressed the budget gap is caused by Scottish government grant funding being less than required to meet increasing costs and demand for council services.
Savings of over £12 million will be made in 2020/21.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said:“Tough decisions have been forced upon us for many years and the Scottish government has shown a prolonged and ongoing lack of respect for Scottish local authorities with chronic underfunding which has forced local authorities to make enforced cuts to services to their communities in order to meet the legal requirement to set legal balanced budgets.”
Tough decisions have been forced upon us for many years