Council staff and services across Perth and Kinross could face a possible “doomsday” scenario of cuts amounting to tens of millions of pounds, it has been revealed.
It has emerged the local authority may face years of austerity after council leader Ian Miller told fellow members a “mid-range” savings figure could be around £53 million up to 2020.
He stressed the “most optimistic” figure would be £13m but added he could not even contemplate the worst case scenario, which would be a staggering £91.7m of savings up to the 2019/20 financial year.
The sum amounts to 21.7% of the gross revenue budget.
Councillors heard how the council’s savings target between 2015/16 to 2019/20 financial years would be 12.5% of its gross revenue budget.
The idea of breaking ranks with the Scottish Government and imposing a council tax increase over the next five years was also mooted.
These figures are all projections but were laid out in black and white in a council paper.
Mr Miller described the medium term financial plan as “very important” and expressed his worries over the cuts which may have to be made.
“It makes a number of assumptions about future funding levels, the most optimistic of these being we need to find further savings of £13 million over that period,” he said.
“A mid-range scenario is a £53m saving. I won’t even look at the worst case scenario.
“All of that indicates our overall financial position will not improve in the near future and it’s therefore vitally important we continue along the route of travel we have already set for this council.”
Mr Miller told councillors forward planning is “vital”.
He claimed the council will be “well placed” in comparison to many other authorities because of the various measures they already taken or have prepared for in terms of service redesigns and workforce planning.
However, he admitted it looks inevitable further cuts will be required and will be the council’s focus in the months ahead.
“Through all of this we need to keep our eyes and minds fixed on our council key aims,” he said.
“Providing improved service during a time of diminishing resources won’t be easy but it can be achieved.
“We already have a track record in doing so and that must remain our aim in the difficult years ahead.
“It gives me little pleasure… but it is a realistic assessment of the financial constraints we face.”
John Symon, head of finance, told councillors the local authority faced “challenging” times and underlined the difficulties.
“There’s unlikely to be any increases in funding available to the council,” he said.
Mr Symon explained the council are only able to plan for the 2015/16 financial year due to “insufficient” financial details provided by the Scottish Government.
“The intention is to get the council together in November for a medium-term plan and then the actual budget will be made concrete in February next year,” he added.
Mr Symon also alluded to the fact that the impact of welfare reform in the shape of Universal Credit could add around £1.5m to the council budget.
In addition, the proposed council cuts could lead to restraints on pay increases for council staff being limited to 2% in 2015/15 and 2.5% thereafter.