Glasgow council's huge budget shortfall for the year ahead has reduced from £119.4 million to about £68.3 million - still the “the highest spending gap” in living memory, a council meeting heard yesterday.
The local authority is due to set its budget on February 16.
Councillors were given an update on the change in the financial prediction for 2023 to 2024 at a City Administration Committee on Thursday.
READ MORE: Glasgow City Council in financial crisis amid £119million budget shortfall
Councillor Philip Bratt said he hoped the council can come up with “some good responses to these challenges” because citizens and businesses will be impacted.
He added: “Even though this number has reduced on paper it is still the highest budget gap this council has probably seen in living memory.”
A previous financial forecast predicted the there would be a spending gap of £119.4 million but that is down due to a number of factors.
Changes to the financial situation affecting the council’s forecast for 2023 to 2024 include an increase of £7.7 million from the Scottish Government settlement.
The amount of money generated from council tax is set to go up from £3 million to £4.5 million.
A council report presented to councillors also said the new adjustments “reflect the removal of pay inflation for the health and social care partnership as well as a number of other changes.”
Commenting on the reduction of the spending gap, executive director of finance Martin Booth said: “While that looks significantly better than that previously this is excluding social work who won’t contribute to savings but do have significant savings targets of their own through the Integration Joint Board.”
The Integration Joint Board oversees the health and social care partnership, which is jointly run by the NHS and local authority.
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