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Written by Colin Cameron
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Thursday, 28 January 2010 17:05 |
NOBODY likes unpleasant surprises, and with some hard choices needed on spending over the next few years, Argyll and Bute Council is going out of its way to ensure that we, the public, are braced for the inevitable cuts in services heading our way.
At a pre-budget briefing held at council headquarters in Kilmory last week (the second briefing of its kind), journalists from every local newspaper heard just how tough things are likely to be.
Nothing is yet decided, and the council must meet on February 11 to make firm decisions, but the depth and extent of forthcoming changes to the way each department works is clear. The council hopes to achieve a reduction in costs of 15 per cent as an initial target over the next three years.
The local authority will receive an increase in government funding of 2.8 per cent, but this is more than swallowed up by increasing demands on services, cost pressures and anticipated inflation.
The council has begun a systematic review of each service it provides, with a view to making savings across each. Council leader Dick Walsh explained: “We must prioritise services. There is a finite amount of resources, and we must make it go as far as we can.”
He added, ominously: “We fully anticipate that the next two years will be pretty serious for local government.”
With departments in the process of examining their working methods, the council is likely to be left with a potential small surplus of around £390,000 – assuming, that is, that all the cost saving proposals are implemented. This, however, is not the full story. Without implementing the proposed actions to save money, taking inflation into account and allowing for increased staffing costs following the single status dispute, there is an underlying funding gap amounting to £8.2 million. The council must then meet any pay increases due this spring following the round of pay negotiations.
A number of departments have completed the first of a three-year service review. “A salami-slice approach will not deliver the cost savings we need to achieve,” commented Bruce West, the council’s Head of Strategic Finance. “What we are undertaking is a more strategic review to identifying budget savings.”
With council tax income likely to remain static as a result of the agreement on freezing this revenue source, there is no prospect of the council boosting its coffers by this means.
Some of the suggestions currently on the table are:
Children and Families
- The cutting of four learning disability co-ordinator posts, with a potential budgetary saving of £176,000.
- A reduction in grants to groups working with children affected by disability.
- A reduction in working with the homeless.
Education
- Reductions in support for pre-school education and numbers of classroom and clerical assistants.
- The time which teachers devote to management would also be reduced, resulting in (according to the council’s own assessment) reduced subject choice for pupils and a lowering of a school’s ability to develop the Curriculum for Excellence.
School and Public Transport
- Changing qualifying criteria for free school transport so that fewer children qualify.
Facility Services
- Reducing the hours of catering staff.
- Passing on to end users an imminent increase in landfill tax.
Roads and amenity
- Reduced cleaning of public conveniences.
- Reduction in lorry fleet.
- A reduction in cleaning and maintenance of vehicles.
- Additional income will be sought through an increase in charges for council playing fields and facilities.
- An increase in fees for special uplift of waste.
The list above is intended to give a flavour of the types of measure councillors will be considering before the budget is finalised.Before these difficult choices are made, however, the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability has started a campaign against the proposals to axe four learning disability co-ordinator posts. Angela Henderson, of the consortium said: “Whilst we appreciate local authorities are facing difficult decisions and face pressure to cut public spending and still deliver on increased demand for public services, the proposal to withdraw the Local Area Co-ordinator service in Argyll and Bute is by no means a ‘quick win’ saving. We would urge the council to be aware that the removal of this service could have a direct and immediate impact on the demands for other statutory or council-funded provision.”
Commenting on the local authority’s drive to save money, Argyll and Bute Council Chief Executive, Sally Loudon, said: “These proposals are not all about cuts. They are as much about diverting scarce resources to priority services.”
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Last Updated on Thursday, 28 January 2010 20:33 |
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