Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Times are hard’: Dundee City Council finance spokesman blames austerity for budget cuts

Bailie Willie Sawers
Bailie Willie Sawers

The Dundee public are “sick to the back teeth of austerity politics,” the man in charge of the city’s finances has claimed.

The SNP administration’s finance spokesman Willie Sawers said local authorities have no choice but to cut services and raise fees in a bid to balance the books.

Mr Sawers said the Dundee City Council administration is trying to minimise the impact on frontline services wherever possible, but said it will be looking to make voluntary redundancies.

“There will be a voluntary redundancy process. I wouldn’t like to put a number on that but we have to look at service provision and the impact on that,” he said.

He added although the council is looking to save £450,000 by reducing the number of primary and early years assistants it employs by 27, it will be creating 50 new posts to cope with the burden of providing additional early years childcare demanded by the Scottish Government.

It is receiving additional funding to pay for these jobs.

“I would hope there will be a minimum impact on public services,” Mr Sawers said.

“What I would add is the expansion of Early Years provision so there will obviously be an opportunity for redeployment.”

He said: “Times are hard. We can’t deny that.

“I think the public are sick to the back teeth of austerity politics which has led to councils being in the situation they’re in.

“I’m glad I’m finance convener of a Scottish local authority because if you look at some of the reactions that have been made in England and Wales they’ve lost 40% of their revenue funding over the years.

“Where we are at is quite a protected position. We did a survey with the public and unsurprisingly the public’s priorities are services for the most vulnerable.”

Mr Sawers said introducing a £35 annual fee for the collection of garden waste in 2020 will help pay for other services.

He said: “It’s going to bring in hundreds of thousands pounds a years. That’s at least four primary school teachers for example.”