Press Release
"No swingeing cuts" - But Convener hails council's "tough" budget decisions
Councillors at this morning’s full SIC meeting set the budget for 2011-12. Proposals put forward by the Chief Executive for balancing next year’s Council budget included:
- recommendedsavings of £7.9million;
- savings for debate of £1.7mill;
- reducing the capital programme by £5.2million;
- drawing £3.6mill from reserves.
The savings package agreed amounted to £9.447million in total. Only £92,859 of savings put forward for consideration were turned down (see below).
“I thought that a very informed and full debate took place at the meeting today”. Council Convener Sandy Cluness said this afternoon. “Members clearly took on board the current financial challenges the Council is facing. The budget was tough, savings equate to roughly 7.7% of the total revenue budget for next year. I can’t think a more challenging savings agenda has ever been delivered by the Council. It was important that we agreed this today. It now allows officers the chance to go away and work on the detail for delivery.”
Council Chief Executive Alistair Buchan added “I’m very pleased that we have been able to identify savings without the need to make the type of swingeing cuts to services that we’re seeing elsewhere in the local government community. I am confident that the budget represents a careful balance between achieving an appropriate level of savings while limiting any detrimental impacts upon our community and our staff. This includes minimising the possibility of any compulsory redundancies which we will do our utmost to avoid if at all possible. All credit for the budget must go to our staff and managers who have worked extremely hard over the past few months to get the information together. I’d also pay tribute to the Members for engaging so well with us on the options as they came forward.
“There’s no doubt that agreeing a budget for this year marks an important step in the Council putting its finances onto a more sustainable footing for the longer-term. Of course, managing to balance our books every year is one of the main criticisms we’ve heard from the Accounts Commission and is a key part of our Improvement Plan. So, these decisions were doubly important and give me every confidence that the Council can move forward on a stable platform and continue to deliver the best level of service to the community”.
List of savings proposals not agreed
Item 26 - Reduction in Graduate Placements - £12,000
Item 30 - Reduce Programme for Speakers of Other Languages - £4,519
Item 36 - Review of Children/Adolescent Mental Svs - £25,000
Item 37 - Children's Hearing/Court Proceedingsconsultancybudget - £20,000
Item 40 - Family Mediation funding - £ 8,160
Item 114 - Stop Bulky Uplifts (proposal was to charge for this) - £ 1,000
Item 120 - ReduceBeach Cleanups (deadmarine animals etc) - £ 4,180
Item 159 - Removal of Fair Isle rotation on Saturdays - £18,000
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TOTAL £92,859
ENDS