At its meeting last night (Thursday 20 February) the Council agreed a range of measures to deliver the required savings for 2020/21 with a 3.95% increase in Council Tax and with no enforced job losses or service reductions.
Joint Council Leader Andrew Polson explained, “We faced a further multi-million pound funding gap for 2020/21 having already reduced the Council budget by over £87 million over the past 10 years and by over £14 million last year alone.
“And whilst £495 million new revenue funding has been identified for local government in Scotland, this is against £590 million of new Scottish Government policy commitments so the reality is in fact a £95 million shortfall or 1% reduction in grant.
“Our agreed Council Tax increase of 3.95% was below the maximum 4.84% we could apply and was consistent with the feedback of our budget consultation exercise and balances the impact of a Council Tax increase on household budgets.”
Council Tax accounts for just over 20% of the total Council Revenue Budget and a 3.95% increase will see the level on a Band D property in East Dunbartonshire increase by just over £49 per year to £1,308.98 and raise income for the Council of just over £65.8 million.
Joint Council Leader Vaughan Moody added, “In addition to the new policy commitments, the local government settlement in Scotland does not take into account inflation nor any restoration of the significant underfunding of recent years – so the shortfall is much greater than the 1% reduction. Increasing income is therefore essential to balancing the books. "Our consultation feedback also supported our agreed 4% increase in fees and charges, generating £200,000 in additional income, and taking views on parking on board, we are not increasing parking charges and will employ an additional four community wardens across the area.”
In addition to the rise in Council Tax, the savings target has been met through identifying cost reductions of just over £2 million pounds across the Council’s strategic service portfolios and work undertaken on staff turnover modelling, equating to £1 million.
The remaining funding gap for 2020/21 of £1.83 million is addressed in the revised Organisational Transformation programme, with any shortfall funded short-term through reserves and the Cost of Change fund.
Whilst savings have been essential, there have been some budget increases as Councillor Polson explains, “Taking account of recent Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation data, we’ve extended our school holiday Snack and Play scheme to include Clober Primary in Milngavie and Lairdsland Primary in Kirkintilloch; we are also launching our Families Together initiative in the summer to improve mental and physical wellbeing in children and their families and we are committing an additional £500,000 annually to the Leisure & Culture Trust to support the important services they deliver locally, and partner the Council in delivering.”
The Council’s revised 10 year Capital Investment Programme and Capital Budget for 2020/21 was also agreed.
Councillor Moody highlighted the key East Dunbartonshire-wide commitments that the programme will deliver, adding “Our capital programme sits hand in hand with our revenue budget and clearly demonstrates our ambition and commitment to improving our assets and facilities across the area. Our Education priorities include our £26.4 million Additional Support Needs School in Waterside, which is making good progress, £30 million for Boclair Academy, which is in the early design stages, and £14.4 million for our new Early Years facilities where construction is well underway.
"Beyond the school estate, the New Allander Leisure and Adult Day Care Centre has a combined budget of £40.9 million and the Capital Programme includes the fantastic £30 million grant for the City Deal project to deliver economic regeneration, public transport and roads infrastructure investment in Bishopbriggs, to be delivered by 2024/25.”
The agreed capital expenditure for 2020/21 totals just over £38 million and also includes:
- Additional year on year funding for pavement improvements totalling £2.5 million
- £0.5 million to refurbish Lenzie Public Hall
- £0.85 million for pitch and pavilion in High Park, Lennoxtown
- £1.64 million for Brookwood Villa and town centre refurbishment in Bearsden
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