COUNCIL TAX TO SOAR BY NEARLY 5%
Hike needed to protect services
Council tax bills are set to rise by nearly five per cent in a bid to find more money for the elderly and education.
It was agreed this week to increase council tax by 4.79 per cent for all bands in 2019/20.
Band D properties will pay an extra £4.64 a month while householders in Band H will see their monthly tax bill rise by £11.36 a month. And while councillors agreed to spend £ 426million on services such as roads, education and social care, they warned residents should expect further cuts and changes to services as they struggle to balance the books.
At a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, councillors also pledged to revisit planned changes to early morning gritting and funding for
voluntary organisations should additional funding be generated via the new loans fund legislation.
Over the next four years, the council faces a budget gap of over £ 51 million because Scottish Government grant funding is not sufficient to meet increased costs faced by the council.
Savings of £ 15 million will be made in 2019/20 and the council is expected to have delivered nearly £ 157 million of savings between 2007/2008 and March 2023.
Last February the council agreed a longterm financial plan, including a wide range of service changes. Savings of £46.1million have been agreed, leaving a remaining gap of £4.4milllion.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick said the decision to increase council tax had “not been taken lightly”.
He added: “After years of a Scottish Government- imposed council tax freeze, councils now have the ability to raise council tax to help fund local services.
“If we had not increased council tax levels to 4.79 per cent from the previously planned three per cent, officers would have had to find a further £1.4 milllion of savings on top of the £15 million already being cut.
“We are always looking to protect local services and this is the only way to do that.
“We know through our consultation in 2017 that the majority of respondents were satisfied to pay more council tax if all funding raised above three per cent were spent on specific priorities.
“I believe that the majority of local people understand that if we don’t raise council tax, the council has to cut more services which are important to so many people.”
The SNP had proposed an alternative budget funded by using the council’s insurance fund reserves to restore opening times at recycling centres and campus school police as well as invest in community grants for the third sector.
Funding would also have removed charges for instrumental music provision. These proposals were defeated at a vote, with the minority Labour administration winning the backing of the Conservatives.
At Tuesday’s meeting the housing budget and capital programme were also set.
Councillors agreed to invest over £38 million in 2019/20 on assets to support the delivery of essential services.
This will involve significant investment of nearly £21 million in schools and other property, almost £11 million spent on roads and related assets, over £2 million on open spaces and over £4 million invested in vital information and communication technology (ICT) assets.
It was also agreed to spend over £115 million over the next four years on improving and increasing council housing stock.
Councillor Fitzpatrick said: “The council continues to carefully listen to the views expressed by local people.
“The budget savings measures in the financial plan were supported in our budget consultation in 2017.
“The budget challenges are not of our own making and reducing some services is not something we want to do but, put simply, the council is not receiving enough funding from the Scottish Government to enable us to provide the same level of services.
“There is no doubt in my mind that, in terms of funding, this is the most challenging time that local government has had to face in a generation. The fact is that the council will have made £157 million of savings by March 2023.
“In spite of reductions in our funding, we are confident that we are making the right choices for local people and our communities. By aligning our budget with local priorities we will help to ensure that the needs of the community are met.”