Following a two-hour meeting earlier
tonight the Council’s cross-party
Members’ Budget Working Group reached agreement on a package of budget
proposals to be recommended to a meeting of the full Council on 16 February 2017.
Despite a reduction in the Council’s grant of
nearly £5m from the Scottish Government the cross-party group has honoured the
commitment given previously to balance the 2017/18 budget without further
service reductions over and above those previously agreed as part of the
2016/18 two-year budget set in March 2016. This will be achieved through the
use of reserves.
The Group had considered closing some of the
budget gap with a 3% Council Tax rise for all Council Taxpayers as recommended
by the Scottish Government. However, on balance, members of the Group decided
against this. They are conscious that 7,000 households in Inverclyde already
face potential rises of between 7.5% and 22.5% and did not wish to add to the
burden on these families.
Members of the Group recognise that
if the Scottish Government continues to cut the Council’s funding year on year
a rise in the basic level of Council Tax is inevitable next year and every year
thereafter.
The Council’s Chief Financial Officer is
estimating that the potential funding gap in 2018/19 is of the order of £10.5m,
assuming a further £4.7m cut in Scottish Government funding. A savings target
of this magnitude will be hugely challenging for the new Council elected in May
and will require a fundamental review of the services the Council delivers.
The members of the Council’s cross-party Members’
Budget Working Group are: Councillor Ronnie Ahlfeld (Independent); Councillor
Jim Clocherty (Labour); Councillor Vaughan Jones (Independent); Chair,
Councillor Stephen McCabe (Labour); Councillor Ciano Rebecchi (Liberal
Democrat) and Councillor David Wilson (Conservative). The SNP Group Leader
Councillor Christopher McEleny withdrew his Group from the working group in
December 2016.
The cross-party group represents 14 of the
Council’s 20 members with the remaining 6 being SNP Councillors.
No comments:
Post a Comment