Council cuts

Published on Thursday 19 November 2009 09:13

NOW we know what the city's £92 million cash crisis really means in human terms. And it isn't pretty.

After every council department was told to come up with a savings plan which would cut costs in frontline services by at least 4 per cent, the hit list is even longer than feared

As the News has previously revealed, two secondary schools could close within three years. Overall, education budgets face being slashed by 4.5 million and this could include axing hot meals in secondary schools. The cost of meals and milk in primaries could also rocket, and fewer kids may get free transport.

The council's contribution towards policing costs is expected to fall too, by nearly 150,000. Charges are set to go up in daycare while the number of places may drop. Parking charges could go up by 10 per cent in town and a third on the periphery. Free special uplifts of rubbish may end. It'll even cost more to get married in the city.

The list goes on, and on. It will impact on just about everyone's life. If that wasn't enough to bear, the combined savings over three years if every proposal is approved will amount to 77m – still 15m short of the target.

Despite the concordat with the Scottish Government – which will also be broken if the council abandons free school meals in P1, P2 and P3 – this raises the very real prospect that council taxes will have to rise to bridge that funding gap.

Council officials have already factored in a 3 per cent rise in 2011/12 as part of their sums, but pressure will mount for an earlier, and possibly bigger increase.

To be fair to the Lib Dem/SNP administration, every council across Scotland faces similar cash shortfalls because the recession has hit all income streams.

Quite rightly, officials therefore have been told to look at new ways of providing services for less money, notably Alternative Service Models – including privatisation – and working with other councils to provide economies of scale.

These efforts must continue in a bid to squeeze every ounce of value out of every taxpayer's penny.

But at this stage it is hard to see the accounts being balanced and key services being maintained without a council tax increase. This would be about as popular as Fred Goodwin turning up at a support group for people struggling with negative equity.

Councillors have an almost impossible job ahead of them – and they must know that if they get it wrong they will pay for it at the polls in 2012.