Council chiefs have warned that £35million in savings could be needed in just three years to secure the “financial stability” of the local authority.
A catalogue of measures will be required — and quickly — if Renfrewshire Council is to close an estimated gap of some £44m in that period.
That’s according to a report authored by Alastair MacArthur, the council’s finance director, which highlights the seriousness of the situation in light of the Scottish Government resource spending review.
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The paper, which will be discussed at Thursday's meeting, adds that council tax offers “a critical but limited avenue to increase resources.”
For example, a three per cent hike each year would see a predicted gap of £44m drop to a figure in the region of £31m.
The document says the local authority should “act decisively at the required pace” to secure its stability and sustainability going forward.
A number of reviews — covering the likes of property assets, procurement and policy issues — have been recommended for the summer period as the council tries to close the predicted gap.
Councillor Alison Ann-Dowling, the Labour group’s finance spokesperson, said: “The council is going to have to find a huge amount of cost savings to plug the black hole.
“The figures that have been released confirm our worst fears that not only will substantial cost-cutting measures need to be put in place over the next three years, but that will happen at a time of rising costs that the council needs to meet, because of inflationary pressures that affect how it delivers services.
“In the same way that in households bills are going up for heating and food costs, inflationary pressures also impact the council and the money it’s got to spend to deliver services.
“That double whammy is where our fears have been realised.
“We will work to support reasonable adjustments where they can be found within the council.
“However, we are concerned about cuts to services that we don’t think are reasonable and we will keep a close eye on the proposals that are put forward.”
Mr MacArthur’s report says that securing £35m in savings “represents a very significant challenge” for the council — not just because of the scale of the figure, but because it has already been tightening the purse strings for the last decade.
The document says: “It was long expected that the scale of required medium term savings would gradually soften with an eventual return to growth in local government spending capacity as we progressed into 2020 and the new decade.
“However, following the economic impact of major global events such as the pandemic and current Ukrainian crisis the outlook for the public expenditure landscape has shifted very materially in a short period of time.”
Instead, the council is expected to enter an era of “heightened financial challenge and risks” in which making savings “is likely to have greater implications for the delivery of future services and outcomes than it has over the past decade.”
Renfrewshire Council said it has a “strong record” of managing its finances while delivering services people rely on.
A spokesperson said: “This week’s report sets out in as much detail possible, the current and future position for elected members.
“Our current financial year position remains stable and the forecast financial gap has not differed significantly from previous forecasts, but it is clear, with increased inflation and pay considerations, we require a portfolio of work to prioritise our future financial sustainability and this is already underway.
“We have a strong record of managing the council’s finances while delivering the services people rely on and we remain committed to doing all we can to help people with the increasing cost of living, continuing to target available resources to those most in need.”
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