The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Dundee council tax freeze proposed as SNP publish spending plans
Dundee council tax payers will see their bills frozen for the coming financial year, according to the SNP administration’s budget plans.
The freeze leads a series of “ambitious” proposals as the ruling group seeks to balance pandemic spending pressures with greater investment in education, health, tackling poverty, drugs and climate change.
The council’s annual budget setting process will take place virtually next Thursday.
The party’s plans include a 3% wage increase for the lowest paid employees.
A renewed commitment to building a new Mill o’ Mains Community Facility and the £60 million Craigie/Braeview secondary school replacement is also included.
If approved, the administration will increase the council’s spending on the Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership to £82.6m.
Around £4.4m in savings are outlined in the proposed budget.
Some of the cuts will come from placing fewer children in external care, restructuring the council’s corporate business support services and shrinking the budget for Dundee youth work charity Helm.
Councillor Willie Sawers, the SNP’s finance spokesman, said the group was “acutely aware of the need to support the city during and post-pandemic”.
He said: “We are investing more money in health and social care, in education, in tackling poverty and deprivation, in delivering new schools and council houses and in tackling climate change.
“These are the areas that Dundonians have told us they see as a priority.”
He said he hoped more Scottish Government funding would allow the group to bring forward further proposals to help the city recover.
“Covid-19 has had a significant impact on our city’s wellbeing and economy and we will continue to deal with that for some time,” he added.
The Scottish Government has provided £90m to councils to provide the equivalent of a 3% council tax rise, helping councils to freeze rates at current levels.
The SNP Dundee proposals – which must be approved next week – also include a freeze on burial charges and an extra £1m – on top of what has previously been announced – for mental health, drugs issues and tackling poverty.
Councillor John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council, said: “Setting the council’s £372m budget is always a challenge but I firmly believe that our priorities align with the public’s.
“We have looked carefully at the feedback from the recent budget consultation, reflected on the issues facing Dundee and tried to ensure we focus on health, education and the entrenched social issues of poverty and drugs.
“This budget gives the city a solid foundation from which to grow even further still.”
Opposition political groups have a deadline of 5pm on Monday to submit their finalised proposals.
Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson said: “We have already been working in detail on our own budget submission and have identified proposed cuts in service that we want to avoid.
“Additionally, there are important areas of service where we will be proposing improvements and additional funding.
“However, no one has a monopoly of wisdom and we feel that the various council groups should work together in this year or all years to get the best budget possible in such challenging times.”