Dundee City Council’s budget has been set after the SNP administration saw off two bids by opposition groups for the authority to save money by not sending councillors to conferences and not providing them and officials with free sandwich lunches.
To help maintain the improvement in Dundee schools’ performance, Labour wanted a review of the Devolved School Management Scheme and money spent on teachers’ Continued Professional Development, study support, absence cover and no rationalisation of exam presentations.
Labour’s alternative savings amounting to £376,000 were ending the lease of TSI, the lord provost’s official car which cost £6000 a year, and stopping the bus route development grant of £226,000. They also thought £78,000 could be taken from central support services while £5000 could be saved by stopping councillors from attending conferences, £14,000 from providing sandwich lunches for elected members and officials and £7000 by stopping the buying of alcohol for the city chambers.
Mr Regan said no child in Dundee should be left behind at school, and Labour’s proposals “will make this poor budget a little better for the education service.”
“Each and every child must be given every opportunity to reach their maximum potential. We must ensure that they leave school with as many certificates and qualifications as possible that will help them deal with life’s challenges and assist them as they present themselves to future employers and colleges and university,” he said.
Liberal Democrat Fraser Macpherson agreed the council was faced with a challenging budget but “everyone must be concerned if the education service is affected by these proposals.”
He was troubled by the city campus concept and did not think enough provision existed to cover for teachers who went off ill.
The SNP’s Stewart Hunter said education was the biggest spending department with some 40% of the overall budget, and in these difficult times it could not expect to be unaffected by savings.
Labour’s Laurie Bidwell replied, “So why do we want to be spending money on beer and sandwiches at this time?”
SNP’s Bob Duncan picked on the bid to stop the lease of the TS1 a Volkswagen Phaeton and said, “Dundee is Scotland’s fourth city. Do we want to see our civic leader turning up in a Reliant Robin to meet important business people who want to spend money in our city?”
Ken Guild defended the city campus idea and said it was not so different from senior school pupils going to the college of commerce on a morning or afternoon to study for Highers that their own schools could not offer.
The SNP budget motion was carried by 15 votes to 11, with the Tories abstaining, and then the Tories presented their proposals.
They also accepted the administration’s £14.977 million of cuts but tabled the same £376,000 worth of extra savings as Labour and proposed raising the budget for maintaining open spaces, including grass cutting in parks, by £26,000. This would have led to revised savings of £15.353 million and a Band D council tax reduction of £7.
Proposer Donald Hay said that when council staff bought their own lunch he did not see why councillors and officials could not do likewise. He thought no alcohol should be bought for the chambers as the council should not be seen to be encouraging drinking. Dundee had the third highest council tax in Scotland and the £7 cut would move it back to fifth highest.
Colleague Derek Scott was concerned about aspects of the charitable trusts being formed to run the city’s sports and cultural facilities, fearing they would be less open to democratic accountability. He continued, “The council tax has been frozen for five years but people in the city are still paying some of the highest council tax in the country. When people are thinking of moving into the area they will look at the level in Dundee and compare it to its neighbouring councils and it may be there that they decide to live.”
Ken Guild said TSI was not the exclusive car for the lord provost but was used for many civic functions, and was very useful during the winter storm to help deliver essential meals to the elderly and infirm.
He went on, “As for the hospitality budget, it has been cut very sharply over many years and it’s not like it was in the old days of Dundee District Council and the early days of Dundee City Council where the place was like an all-inclusive resort if you wore a wristband you were served as much drink as you wanted. In the last few years it (alcohol availability) has dropped considerably and our group has acted on this.”
The Conservative amendment was defeated 15-3 with the 11 Labour and Lib Dem members abstaining.
Thursday’s meeting ended with a furious row between the council’s two main political rivals over another savings proposal axing the budget for alcohol in the City Chambers.
It led SNP’s Ken Guild to comment on the “well-stocked drinks cabinet” he found when he took over the administration leader’s office from Labour’s Kevin Keenan in 2009. “Twenty minutes later I had it removed by a council officer and put in the store for corporate hospitality,” he added.
A seething Mr Keenan shot to his feet demanding to answer what he regarded as a thinly disguised allegation that he consumed a lot of alcohol when he was in power. But Willie Sawers, chairing the policy and resources committee, quickly moved on the proceedings and Mr Keenan did not get a chance to reply.
Outside the chamber later Mr Keenan still shaking with rage said, “I am absolutely furious about what Ken Guild just said. If there was any alcohol in that cabinet it belonged to the Labour group and was paid for by us. Maybe it was there for us to have a few drinks at Christmas but nothing more than that.”
Turning the attack on his opponent, he continued, “If there was anything left in the cabinet after I left office that Ken Guild found and he handed it over to the council store, then I expect there to be an inventory showing it being handed over. I am asking the chief executive to look for the inventory for proof that Ken Guild did hand the drink over.”
The angry exchange brought an abrupt conclusion to nearly four hours of debate in the committee in which the Nationalists, with the support of Lord Provost John Letford, had their spending plans adopted.
From a provisional revenue budget of £371 million, there is a package of savings worth £14.977 million. After allowing for Scottish Government funding and income from non-domestic rates there is £56.5 million to be raised from the council tax which is to be frozen for the fifth year in a row. Dundee’s Band D level of £1211 is expected to be still one of the highest in Scotland, however.
The SNP administration said the city council was facing “its most difficult budget” since being set up in 1996. Mr Sawers said the council was having to cope with an “unprecedented” cut in funding that would see a real terms reduction in government grant for the next four years.
He went on, “Dundee has benefited from a lower-than-average cash reduction of 1.2% but that still requires us to find savings of just under £15 million.”
The administration had approached the budget with three priorities a council tax freeze, no compulsory redundancies and minimising the impact on frontline services.
“Despite the financial situation, this administration is doing everything it can to help deliver for citizens across the city,” Mr Sawers said.
Labour also wanted a council tax freeze but wanted to achieve it differently. George Regan said the group agreed with most of the £14.977 million of savings identified by the SNP but wanted to restore £376,000 to education.