Council tax will rise by 3.5 per cent in East Renfrewshire from April after councillors agreed plans to plug a £9.5 million budget gap.
The majority of the shortfall will be covered with £5.2 million from the council’s reserves but “very difficult” cuts are still being made.
As a result, 36 full-time equivalent jobs could be lost, although there will be no compulsory redundancies, and £583,000 will be cut from an education fund to help low achievers.
Another £500,000 will be removed from roads and winter maintenance budgets as part of savings which total £2.2 million.
The council tax rise will bring in an extra £2.1 million which means the budget “tackles the savings gaps, balances the books and protects frontline services as much as possible”, council leader Tony Buchanan, SNP, said.
Opposition councillors criticised the plans with Councillor Gordon Wallace, Conservative, saying East Renfrewshire had faced an “eye-watering” £55 million of “SNP cuts” over six years.
He proposed spending £110,000 on two new HR staff to target “reducing absenteeism”, with East Renfrewshire “in the lowest quartile” of all 32 councils.
Councillor Wallace claimed his proposal could save £315,000 a year, a net efficiency of £205,000, and the majority could be put back into the education budget.
However, the administration’s budget, proposed by Councillor Buchanan, was passed, meaning council tax for a Band D household will increase from £1,289.96 to £1,335.11 in 2022 to 2023.
Councillor Buchanan said: “The decision to increase council tax was certainly not taken lightly as everyone in the administration is acutely aware of the cost-of-living crisis which is having such an impact on households across the country.
“But if we had not opted to raise council tax, there would have to be further reductions in funding to our schools, public infrastructure such as roads, our parks and recycling services.
“For families on low incomes – about 11 per cent of all households in East Renfrewshire – they will not have to pay the full increase, with some households continuing to pay no council tax at all because of their circumstances.”
East Renfrewshire received a £207.7 million grant settlement from the Scottish Government, leaving the £9.5 million hole.
The £2.2 million savings include £90,000 through community warden “reductions”, £83,000 from a drop in modern apprenticeships funding and almost £100,000 through an IT restructure.
School meal prices will be increased to bring in £30,000 and £10,000 will be raised through increased Duke of Edinburgh charges.
A reduction in adult learning staff and reviews of admin employees and the chief executive’s office team are expected to save £17,000, £25,000 and £33,000 respectively.
The council plans to raise £186,000 through changes to recycling contracts, which will boost income.
It is understood the £583,000 education budget cut will be partly offset by extra money from the Scottish Government, targeted at raising attainment levels, while headteachers have access to devolved school management budgets.
Councillor Buchanan added: “The council has still to make some very difficult savings of £2.2 million. This becomes more difficult every year.
“As a result, around 36 full-time equivalent posts may be affected by this year’s savings proposals, but I can reaffirm our long-standing commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies at East Renfrewshire Council in the coming year.”
He added: “We will continue to push for increased funding for local government and will continue to look at new and innovative ways of achieving savings.”
Councillor Wallace said the proposals to fill the shortfall involved “huge” withdrawal of reserves as well as cuts.
“The 1999 SNP manifesto said underfunding local government leads to huge increases in council tax, well they got that right.”
