Council tax will rise by three percent as the local authority approved a ‘no cuts’ budget for the fourth year in a row.
Proposals to slash the £5million gap by axing lollipop patrollers, cutting back street cleaning and switching to three-weekly bin collections have all been rejected.
West Dunbartonshire SNP councillors put forward proposals to close the gap, which include using over £1m of reserves and almost £2m of government Covid funding, which were agreed last week.
Councillors met to decide how funding should be spent for the next year, with the cost of living crisis dominating discussions.
Following a vote, it was agreed to double the school clothing grant to £300 and create a £400,000 cashpot to support residents struggling with the cost of living.
Extra support will also be provided for local foodbanks and an enhanced welfare and Working4U service.
The budget also commits to a £1m investment in apprentices over the next four years, an additional £2m investment to improve roads and pavements in the area, funding for additional Christmas lights and the introduction of a pothole rapid repair service.
In addition, £500,000 will be invested for flood prevention and another half a million will be used to enhance play areas.
Announcing the spending plans, Councillor Ian Dickson said: “On behalf of West Dunbartonshire SNP I am over the moon to be able to put before this council, despite gargantuan pressures and additional costs, and for an extraordinary fourth year in a row, a no cuts budget.
“What I am presenting today has no service cuts and requires no service cuts.
“We have also protected funding of strategic partners such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and Women’s Aid, have rejected potentially damaging cuts to services and avoided huge increases in fees and charges at a time when people can least afford the hit on their increasingly squeezed incomes.
“At a time when our residents are dealing with the impacts of Brexit, the pandemic and the effects of war in eastern Europe, it is more important than ever to protect their income and guard against rapidly rising cost-of-living pressures.
“That is why we know families will welcome the saving they will make thanks to the doubling of school clothing grants and our most vulnerable residents will benefit through the new cost of living grant fund.”
The three percent council tax hike is also helping to close the gap, which the councillor said was a “modest rise similar to most other local authorities and allows us to close the budget gap without any service cuts or job losses.”
Despite the increase, residents in band D properties will pay £111.20 less per year or £11.12 less per month for those paying over 10 months, when counted alongside the council tax credit from the Scottish Government.
West Dunbartonshire’s Labour group hit out at the Scottish Government, claiming they had failed to pass on to councils extra funding from the UK Government to counter the rise in national insurance contributions.
The group also proposed a budget which looked to freeze council tax, give low income households a £100 one-off payment, increase the social welfare fund by £250,000, create a community and business support fund and an additional £5m to improve roads in the local area.
Labour leader Martin Rooney said: “The Labour budget is about our collective values. Most of us have grown up in fairly humble backgrounds.
“People went to work but they were always skint. It looks like those days are coming back with the cost of living crisis and for some people those days never went away.
“That’s why our budget focuses on hard pressed families. We have a shared understanding on what our priority is. We may disagree on how to solve it, but we all agree the biggest problem is the cost of living crisis.
“Labour’s budget wants to tackle this head on.
“It is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. People need reassurance, they need leadership and practical reassurance. This needs to be done now and the Labour budget has grasped that nettle.”
Following the discussion, the majority of councillors approved the SNP budget. Conservative councillors Sally Page and Brian Walker abstained.
