Debate over a possible rise in council tax dominated the three-hour full Fife Council meeting in Glenrothes.
While council leader David Ross said he had “serious discussions” about the possibility of defying the Scottish Government freeze and raising council tax this year, the Labour administration has decided not to because the impact on many “hard-pressed” families would be severe and the possible Scottish Government penalties could not be justified.
A Fife Council consultation found 71% of residents would back an end to the council tax freeze so the extra money raised could be spent on local services.
Support for an increase in council tax falls to 36% if the Scottish Government was to impose a £4.6 million penalty on Fife Council for doing so, however.
The administration’s position on council tax was outlined as the full council debated the revenue budget for 2015-18 and agreed, by a majority, Labour’s proposals.
Putting forward the Labour budget motion, Mr Ross said a combination of rising demand for services, increasing service costs, decreasing income and the continuing council tax freeze, made the coming three years “the most difficult the council has ever faced”.
Despite identifying £29m of savings in previous budgets, he said a £77m budget gap was faced over the next three years and it was clear, he said, that the council cannot make this level of savings without it having a serious impact on local services and staff.
He revealed Fife Council faced “huge uncertainties” over the next three years and said the Scottish Government has only set a firm budget for councils for one year.
“There is every indication that the squeeze on local government finance will continue and it is estimated that the council will have its grant from central Government cut by £26m between next year and 2017-18,” he said.
Other uncertainties included the result of the general election in May and the Scottish Parliament election in 2016.
Mr Ross said this “makes it impossible at this point to set a full realistic budget beyond the next financial year”.
Despite this, he said the Labour administration would not accept it must “simply manage a decline in public services.”
Calling for a full debate on the funding of local services across Scotland, Mr Ross said: “We are setting a realistic budget in difficult and uncertain times.
“We will continue to manage the council’s finances responsibly and meet our legal obligations. But we will not passively accept what is a massive attack on local public services.
“The scale of these cuts and the targeting of them on vital local service is a conscious choice being made by the Tories in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood.
“They are both effectively choosing to give tax cuts to the better off whilst cutting funding to vital local services that the most vulnerable and least well off depend on.
“We need a full and open debate across Scotland about what level and standard of local public services we want and how these should be paid for.
“People in Fife clearly value their local services such as health and social care, education, housing, roads, environmental services and the many other services provided by or for the council.
“We will stand up for our local services. We will stand with our employees and the trade unions to defend our local services. And we will stand up for Fife in the face of these massive attacks on our local services.”WHAT WAS AGREED?An increase in charges for school lunches, introduction of music tuition fees for school pupils and a managed reduction of the parks department workforce were some of the savings agreed as Fife Council took another step towards tackling a £77 million budget black hole over the next three years.
The revenue budget agreed means that Fife Council will make savings of £8.8m in 2015-16, rising to £35.6m in 2017-18. This will leave a budget gap of around £44m in 2017-18.
The proposed savings for the next financial year are described by the council as £2.7m under the heading education and support for children, £869,000 for social care, £163,000 for jobs, business and the economy, £539,000
for transport and the environment, £2m for communities, £758,000 under working more efficiently and £1.5m council-wide.
Council administration leader David Ross announced on Wednesday that controversial proposals to reduce the school week in primary schools are now “off the table”. But the budget meeting did agree other savings which include:Removal of non-statutory transportation for nursery pupils saving £123,000 in 2015/16 and rising to £184,000 by 2016/217. This will involve the phasing out of nursery transport to children required to travel out-with their local area for nursery. Changing children’s services fund allocation to NHS saving £270,000 in 2015/16. Staff review in protective services environmental health and trading standards team saving £154,000 in 2016/17. Reprioritisation of road safety work saving £10,000 in 2017/18. Carrying out of less harbour maintenance saving £12,000 in 2017/18. Change frequency of routine maintenance including gully cleaning, traffic signs and road markings saving £142,000 in 2017/18. Prioritising road, pavement and bridge repairs saving £200,000 in 2017/18. Carrying out less flood prevention work saving £16,000 in 2017/18. Introduce a Blue Badge processing charge of £20 saving £120,000 in 2016/17. Increasing concessionary rail travel charges from 50p to £1. Saving £120,000 in 2016/17. Spend less money on promotion of recycling following completion of four-bin roll out saving £120,000 in 2015/16. Loss of two posts from climate change and zero waste team saving £80,000 in 2016/17. Non-renewal of Food for Life accreditation in schools saving £36,000 in 2016/17. Increase charge for school lunches from £1.80 to £2 saving £200,000 from 2015/16. Closure of primary school kitchens which serve less than 75 meals per day saving £76,000 from 2017/18. Reduction in management fee for Fife Sport and Leisure Trust saving £58,000 from 2016/17. Managed reduction of parks, streets and open spaces workforce saving £528,000 from 2015/16. Increased provision of mechanical street sweeping saving £516,000 in 2015/16, rising to £687,000 the following year. Elimination of corporate fraud saving £53,000 from 2016/17 rising to £196,000 in 2017/18. Increase charges saving £718,000 in 2015/16 rising to £2.2m by 2017/18 (this does not include car parking charges). Voluntary sector savings £353,000 in 2015/16 rising to £1.3m in 2017/18. Council-wide efficiency savings of £4m in 2016/17 rising to £8m in 2017/18. Increase in fees for pupil music tuition savings of £100,000 from 2015/16. Homecare service review savings of £1.8m from 2016/17. Review of core grants for Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy BIDs saving of £41,000 from 2016/17. Procurement efficiencies £2m savings from 2016/17. A BUDGET ‘DRIVEN BY AUSTERITY’, CLAIM SNPResponding to Mr Ross’s statements about the council tax, SNP councillors criticised the Labour budget for being “driven by austerity, albeit delayed” and called upon the council to “stop picking fights with the Scottish Government”.
Dunfermline Central SNP councillor Neale Hanvey said: “The Labour party have got their hands on the mains and are switching it off with the Tory party at Westminster, yet they are complaining to the Scottish Parliament that they can’t get a drink.
“Let’s get the story straight here the Labour party is party to the neo-liberal consensus in London.”
Leven, Kennoway and Largo SNP member David Alexander said: “If we let others control our finances we can’t complain about not having enough cash.”
Moving an amendment, SNP group leader and leader of the opposition Councillor Peter Grant said Fife Council needed to honour its manifesto pledge to “focus on what the council is doing itself instead of blaming others for its own actions”.
Mr Grant said: “The SNP group rejects the austerity agenda being promoted by Labour in Westminster and put into practice by Labour in Fife.
“We recognise that the disastrous economic failure of the last Labour government has left a legacy of debt that must be addressed, but we believe the most effective and sustainable way to do this is through a modest increase in public investment in infrastructure and economy.
“We call on the administration to stop wasting energy picking fights with the Scottish Government.”
Meanwhile, Conservative group leader Dave Dempsey expressed concern that the absence of efficiency savings in the draft budget made it difficult to determine exactly what was being proposed.
He added: “The budget proposal is somewhat Dickensian. It’s based on the premise that extra finance will appear Oliver Twist style.”
But Labour councillor Gavin Yates hit back stating: “Sometime asking for more is ok because it’s needed.”
Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Tim Brett successfully moved an amendment to the Labour motion that additional identified efficiency savings should be reviewed by the scrutiny committee.