By Democrat reporter
The SNP government is pushing councils towards financial meltdown, Dumbarton MSP MSP Jackie Baillie warned today as West Dunbartonshire Council sat down to set the council tax for the next financial year.
Data shows that the SNP Government has cut an eye-watering £7.8 billion from local government funding over the past 12 years, leaving councils in dire straits.
Research by Scottish Labour has revealed that £217 million has been stripped from West Dunbartonshire Council’s Core Budget since 2013.
The Labour administration and SNP councillors were keeping the percentage figure close to their chests as they sat down to deliberate the rise in the old Burgh Hall in Church Street.
Speculation is that it will be between 6 and ten percent, and a move by the more radical politicians to have the tax frozen at its current rate will be thrown out.
Fears arestill rife at 4pm that residents could be facing a significant council rise as all local authorities are faced with difficult choices to keep services afloat. Orkney for example put the council tax there up by 15 per cent.
A recent report on Local Government Finances unveiled by the Accounts Commission also found that councils will face “severe financial pressures” in the coming years.
The local government spending watchdog concluded that authorities have become “increasingly reliant” on finding savings to balance the books, hitting services hard.
It also sounded the alarm over increasing borrowing commitments, warning: “Councils continue to borrow more to enable investment in their estates and council debt and annual interest costs continue to increase.”
The report also pointed out: “The need to consult local communities and clearly communicate the implications for local services of the budget decisions taken has never been more important.”
Scottish Government cash provides around 80 per cent of funding available to local authorities and “shapes the fiscal environment that councils operate in”.
She also fears that Scots will be left once more paying the price for SNP failure.
Ms Baillie, who is also Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour, said: “The SNP government has short-changed councils year after year, cutting an eye-watering £7.8 billion from local government coffers in total.
“In West Dunbartonshire, the struggling local authority has faced cuts of £217 million, which has pushed it to breaking point.
“Councils now face stark and impossible choices to protect lifeline services and struggling families will be hit with a Council Tax bombshell because of the austerity inflicted by the SNP.
“I know how much my constituents value many of the services provided by West Dunbartonshire Council but they are going to be hit in the pocket to pick up the tab for the SNP’s failings, while services are cut anyway.
“A Scottish Labour government will put an end to SNP mismanagement and cuts and deliver fair funding for local government so working people don’t have to plug the gaps of government cuts.”
A widely tipped scenarios for local government in Scotland is that it will once again be re-organised and that the boundaries will be withdrawn with responsibility for the major services, high spending services, health and social care and education, transferred to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.
The council tax figure for West Dunbartonshire will be revealed at the full council meeting later today (Wednesday).
Top picture: West Dunbartonshire Council Labour Group when they were caught up in the vontroversial cuts which included the closure of Balloch Library. Picture by Bill Heaney