Stirling Council is suggesting raising council tax by seven per cent, cutting school crossing patrols and closing buildings as part of plans to plug a £17million funding gap.
Council leader, Labour councillor Chris Kane, who leads the minority administration, described the process of drafting the budget as “emotionally and politically challenging”.
And he warned that the financial crisis facing local government is “of a magnitude never been experienced before”.
As well as gathering more money with a council tax rise, the local authority could save cash by cutting school crossing patrols, closing the Cowane Centre and doubling council-run allotment fees.
Other savings proposed, which will be discussed at a meeting on Thursday, include a rise in nursery fees for non-statutory childcare from £3.90 an hour to £4.50 an hour.
And the free special uplift concession for the over-60s would be removed.
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum could see its budget slashed by £4,000, while the closure of the Cowane Centre would save £10,000 in running costs.
The Springkerse Park and Ride route would be dropped, council buildings such as Wolfcraig and Allan Water House would be closed and staff moved to other council premises.
More than £200,000 would be saved across the next two financial years by a reduction in menu choice for school meals.
Around £20,000 would be saved by not providing summer bedding, although communities would be encouraged to get involved instead.
On school crossing patrols, the proposal is for the phased removing of such patrols. The move would be implemented when upgraded traffic controlled crossing facilities are in place to replace them, and it would be done in consultation with schools involved.
Other proposals suggested by council officials but rejected by the Labour administration include the closure of the Balfron and Callander recycling centre, an increase of the unpopular garden waste charge from £30 to £40 a year, closure of Crianlarich Nursery and St Mary’s Episcopal Primary School Nursery, closure of all public toilets, and stopping the P5 swimming programme.
Councillor Kane said this week: “Nobody likes cutting budgets. Nobody likes raising taxes. What we all want are decent local services. Councils provide a delivery mechanism for Scottish and UK Governments. Councils do this because, regardless of what party is in power, collectively we must work together to support our communities. If asked to deliver a national priority, we expect that the money to deliver it comes along with the obligation.
“Local taxes and charges account for 20.8 per cent of Stirling’s budget, raised through council tax and charging for some of the services we provide.
“Local Government Settlement is 79.2 per cent of Stirling’s budget. This is an amount given to councils by the Scottish Government and includes a proportion of all non-domestic rates raised in Scotland.
“Included in the local government settlement is ringfenced funding (4.8 per cent of total) to deliver the national priorities referred to. The money we receive for ringfenced services can only be used to deliver these services.
“Our revised core budget this year following the recent Local Government Settlement is £252,067,000.
“Once we factor in inflation, pay rises for staff, increased energy costs, and other pressures totalling £24,342,000, we would need an extra £17,648,000 to do everything the same next year.
“For 2023/24 the Scottish Finance Secretary has told us we’re receiving an extra £2million in our ‘local government settlement’ which is 0.95 per cent of an increase from the previous year. However, £1,864,000 is ‘ringfenced’ to protect policies Scottish ministers were elected on rather than the services local councils are expected to deliver.
“That leaves just £136,000 extra for core services. In effect, our ‘pay rise’ from the Scottish Government is 0.05 per cent, not the seven per cent minimum we require just to stand still.”
The council leader said to raise the full sum the council tax would need to rise by 32 per cent (one per cent brings in roughly £550,000), or £17.6 million would have to be cut from schools, libraries, bin collection, parks, community centres and other services.
“If you don’t like the options we are proposing, that’s absolutely your choice,” added Councillor Kane. “But our hands are being increasingly tied by the SNP/Green Government in Holyrood.
“The [council] administration have worked with council officers to identify £6,486,000 in budget reductions.
“Some are ‘business as usual’ reductions, where officers are content that they can still deliver a service, albeit a smaller one.
“Some of the larger reductions will have profound impacts on the level of service provided. Some services may stop altogether.
“We have issued a call for voluntary severance to reduce staff numbers.
“Every organisation we fund and every service of the council we provide will have less money to spend next year.
“We’ve taken the tough decision to propose a council tax increase of seven per cent. Despite all of this, we were still £9million short.”
Councillor Kane said Scottish local government as a whole was “hanging in the balance”.
“This year we may be debating whether we can afford summer bedding plants in our parks; next year we’re on course to debate how many of our libraries and community centres can we afford to keep open.
“The year after that, it will be how do we provide support for our most vulnerable citizens, educate our children, pay our staff, and provide basic local services.
In earlier versions of this story and in the Stirling Observer dated March 1 we reported that council officers had suggested the closure of St Mary's Episcopal Primary School in Dunblane among budget savings. The proposal, which was rejected by the Labour administration, was to close St Mary's Episcopal Primary School Nursery, not the school.
