Checks on how cash from Pitlochry’s Common Good Fund has been spent are more than six weeks overdue.
Perth and Kinross Council has been urged to complete the process amid claims the fund cannot operate properly without a completed report but the local authority claims it does not have the resources to do so.
John Swinney MSP has teamed up with Highland ward councillor Mike Williamson to demand the local authority finalises the audit, which should have been completed by the end of 2018.
The SNP duo have slammed the omission and are concerned about why other common good fund lists – including nearby Aberfeldy – have been completed.
Mr Williamson said: “The council was mandated to complete an audit last year but I am concerned at the suggestion that lack of staff or under-funding has caused this not to have been completed.
“Pitlochry Common Good Fund now doesn’t know how much income it should be getting so the fund is unaware of how much money it has to give to good causes.
“There is the potential that some buildings may have been sold, so it is important that the fund knows how much income it is receiving from its property.
“This is a totally unacceptable failure within the council and I will maintain pressure on the council’s Tory leadership until they get a grip on this issue.
“I am astonished that the Tories running Perth and Kinross Council have allowed this omission from our statutory responsibilities to go unchecked and I call upon the leader of the council to take urgent action straight away.”
Mr Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, added: “It is of crucial importance the Pitlochry Common Good Fund is satisfactorily audited.
“It is incumbent upon the council administration to take steps to swiftly rectify this serious oversight.
“The Common Good Fund exists for the betterment of all Pitlochry and it is therefore unacceptable that basic steps are not being taken to protect and maximise its potential benefits for the town.”
A council spokeswoman denied completing other common good fund audits ahead of Pitlochry’s, saying none of them were finished on time.
They said: “Staff resources are limited and unfortunately other work has had to take priority in 2018, meaning that common good registers were not published for any of the common good accounts last year.
“Through the council’s budget-setting process we are putting forward proposals to address this, however we do not currently have a timescale for the registers to be published.
“This does not prevent anyone from contacting the council to enquire about whether a specific site is common good land.”
