Dundee City Council have approved an 8% council tax increase from April 1.
The SNP administration voted to approve the group’s budget proposals at a special city governance committee meeting held on Thursday.
This means those living in Band D properties will pay an extra £119 a year.
The Labour group put forward a 5% increase, whilst the Liberal Democrats suggested 4.94% in their budget.
A budget consultation carried out by the council late last year found the majority of respondents favoured an increase of 3% to 5%.
UK government faces blame
Speaking at the Thursday’s meeting, many SNP councillors placed the blamed on the UK Labour government’s hike in employers national insurance contributions.
Councillor Heather Anderson said the money raised by the council tax rise would equate to around 4% of the national insurance bill now faced by Dundee City Council.
Council leader Mark Flynn said: “(Employer national insurance increases) impacts across every sector.
“It is a complete tax on jobs and you can’t deny this. I think it is absolutely despicable.”
Whist Councillor Lynn Short added: “If we were an independent country, as we should have been 11 years ago, we would not be facing the atrocities we are today.”
Along with the council tax rise, the approved budget includes:
- Scrapping the small skip service
- Reducing money allocated to secondary schools
- Leasing floor area in Dundee House
- Removing city marketing budget
- Reducing funding given to Dundee Rep, DCA and Dundee Science Centre
Proposals previously mooted from council chiefs to close school pools and reduce bin collections were not adopted in the SNP’s budget proposals.
Broughty Castle saved
However, a series of investments were also approved.
These included additional £50,000 to Leisure and Culture Dundee to support the continued opening of Broughty Castle on a reduced hours basis.
An additional £300,000 for the recruitment of additional seasonal environment staff and to support ongoing community clear up works has also been pledged.
A one-off financial contribution of £100,000 to Dundee Heritage Trust was also approved, as was an investment of £60,000 in events that will “positively contribute to Dundee’s economic growth”.
However, calls from the Liberal Democrats to save the Caird Park golf course fell on deaf ears.
The group had suggested an additional one-off funding pledge of £435,000 for Leisure and Culture Dundee to enable the facility to remain open until March 31 2026.
But their budget proposals failed to gain the support of other councillors.
Conversation