Council chiefs in Renfrewshire have been warned they are “sleepwalking into a nightmare” as they face plugging a budget black hole of between £45-£50 million in the next three financial years.
The seriousness of the cash crisis facing the local authority has been laid bare in a report – which paints a bleak financial picture for the period from 2024 to 2027 – prompting a veteran politician to sound the alarm over the situation.
It has been estimated a council tax increase of five per cent in each year would slash the funding gap to a figure in the region of £30-£35m, meaning savings of around £12m each year would be needed to balance the books.
