Jobs warning as council looks to save £1.2 million
As many as 60 jobs could go at Argyll and Bute Council looks to find £1.2 million of further savings for the next financial year.
School crossing patrol posts, which were saved last year after a petition among concerned parents, are once again under scrutiny, along with pupil support hours in primary schools.
The cost of a burial may rise by 20 per cent, with cremations becoming 15 per cent more expensive, should the proposed savings be enforced, while an increase of up to 20 per cent to parking charges is also among the ideas.
And the council’s head of strategic finance Kirsty Flanagan has warned that more than £1 million of further savings will have to be found to meet the midrange forecast budget gap for 2020/21.
The authority’s policy and resources committee met yesterday (Thursday) to discuss the proposed savings. A meeting of the full council was to follow, on the subject of putting the possible savings out to public consultation.
Ms Flanagan said in a report for the meetings this week that a further £1.253m of savings will be needed to meet the mid-range budget scenario of a £5.736m budget gap for 2020/21.
Ms Flanagan said: ‘Based on the latest budget outlook, the savings identified for 2020/21 do not meet the latest mid-range gap by £1.253m. Officers will continue to identify further savings over the coming months to bridge the gap.
‘The savings options identified propose a potential reduction to the council’s staffing by 58.5 FTE [fulltime equivalent] within 202021 should they all be accepted by members.
‘The head of customer support services will take forward a statutory consultation process with the trade unions for those savings options that could have a direct impact on jobs.’
But Norman Muir, convener of Helensburgh Community Council, said: ‘The idea of consulting on a subject without knowing “cause and effect” is simply going through the motions and ticking a box. For instance, “Argyll and Bute however has had the third highest cut to its council funding of all of Scotland’s authorities in recent years”. Why?
‘To the lay outsider, there seems to be a distinct lack of rigour in the challenge of the whys and wherefores of the decisions that seem to have been made, never mind the unintended consequences.
‘I do not minimise the situation but if they are to get the public on board to decide the fate of what is in effect public money, then they should widen the consultation to include the public.’
Council leader Aileen Morton admitted when the proposed cuts were revealed last Friday that there are ‘no easy options left’ for making more savings.
Should it be given the go-ahead, the consultation is expected to run from the end of October until the beginning of December. The policy and resources committee is then scheduled to meet again on Thursday December 12, before the budget for 2020/21 is finalised in February.