Dundee City Council is expecting to make around £19.5 million worth of cuts over the next year in an attempt to balance its books.
The local authority has a legal requirement set a balanced budget for the 2024/25 financial year, meaning savings have to be found.
And Dundonians will have a chance to share their views on where the council’s budget should be going before it’s set early next year.
The budget consultation comes amid the ongoing cost of living crisis, growing pressures on local council budgets and increasing demands on some key services.
Councillors have urged the public to take part in the consultation in order to help the council best delegate their spending priorities for the next budget.
Councillor Willie Sawers, depute convener of the city governance committee, said: “We hear from people across Dundee each year during the budget consultation exercise and it’s their views that help us to identify what the council’s spending priorities should be.
“It’s more important than ever that we ensure as many people as possible take part this year and tell us where they think the council’s limited resources should be focused before the difficult decisions are taken.
“Making your voice heard only takes a few minutes and, as previous council budgets have shown, it really does make a difference.”
What action is the council taking?
Dundee City Council has stressed maintaining services while setting the legally-required balanced budget continues to be a challenge.
The local authority has reduced its annual spending by £157million over the last 15 years.
In order to meet the legal budget the council is focusing on six areas:
- budget management
- service efficiencies
- income generation
- local taxation
- reserves
- service reductions
Mr Sawers added: “The council has a good track record of effective budget management, meaning that we go into this period of financial planning from a relatively strong position.
“This, combined with other information including feedback from the consultation, is pulled together to help inform the decision-making process and supports the council to better understand exactly what the people of Dundee are thinking.
“Everyone who lives and works in the city has a stake in the council and our decisions will directly affect them, so it is vital that as many of them as possible take part in the conversation and give us greater insight that we can use to base our financial decisions on.”
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