The economy of Perth and Kinross will feel the benefits of the Ryder Cup for many years to come, councillors have been told.
“At this time last year we earmarked £500,000 from our resources to fund promotion and infrastructure at the Ryder Cup,” administration leader Ian Miller said at a meeting of the strategic policy and resources committee.
“I’m sure that everyone who witnessed the event will agree that this was money well spent.
“It was an opportunity for us to highlight all that is best about Perth and Kinross to a worldwide audience and, boy, did we pull it off.
“I would ask you all to join with me in congratulating and thanking our dedicated staff who did so much to ensure that Perth and Kinross was shown in the best light possible.
“Through their efforts, the Perth and Kinross economy will benefit for years to come.”
Mr Miller was speaking as the committee discussed the first quarterly monitoring report for the current financial year, which he said “makes very good reading”.
“Overall, we anticipate a net projected underspend of £2.256 million on the revenue budget for 2014/15 and another £579,000 on the DSM (devolved school management) budgets,” said Mr Miller.
He said that education and children’s services are expected to be £1.226m under budget; housing and community care £444,000 under budget; environment services £174,000 under; and the chief executive’s service is projected to be £264,000 under budget.
“I want to thank each of these services for their application in achieving these, already significant, savings at this early stage of the year’s accounts,” said Mr Miller.
“It shows that we continue to apply rigorous financial and management practices across the services, which enables us to identify these further significant savings in our budgets.
“I would welcome the additional funding from the Scottish Government and other sources.
“An extra sum of almost £1.5m is very welcome and clearly demonstrates that this council is getting things right over a whole range of service areas and, as a result, we are achieving these very significant amounts of additional resources.
“The provision of additional affordable housing remains a priority for this council and you are asked to approve the transfer of £740,000 from council tax income on second homes to assist with funding our extensive new build programme.”
The committee agreed and Mr Miller concluded: “Overall, I think the financial position in the council is sound.”
The councillors also heard that the gross capital budget is more than £298m and housing investment stands at a further £63m.
Mr Miller said: “It’s important that we monitor both budgets very closely to ensure that we get the best value possible from the schemes in the plans.
“Our priorities remain to invest in schools,housing and transport infrastructure.”