Council Tax bills in Argyll and Bute are set to rise by 3% – with steeper increases for people in bigger houses.
No additional cutbacks in spending are expected, after last year’s £10m reduction, but a report due to be considered next week warns that a total of £9.3m must be saved between 2018 and 2020.
After the tax was frozen for several years, the bill for an average band D home would rise to £1,213 if the proposals are agreed, while the council would raise another £2.2m thanks to the Scottish Government’s directive to increase the tax for bands E, F, G and H.
A report by head of strategic finance Kirsty Flanagan to the council’s policy and resources committee recommends a budget which would create a ‘significant’ £2.5m surplus, mainly due she says to additional funding from the Scottish Government which was announced last week after the SNP and Green parties struck a deal at Holyrood meaning extra money for local government.
“The allocation for Argyll and Bute is £2.361m revenue and £0.733m capital,” says the report.
“There continues to be a challenging economic position and the council expects to face further significant financial changes in the coming years with continuing growth in demand for services alongside a climate of funding reductions.
“The indicative budgets for 2018-19 and 2019-20 estimate a budget gap of £9.300m by 2019-20 and it is anticipated that a significant scale of saving is likely to continue over the medium to longer term.”
Other factors affecting the budget include another increase in fees for most council services – 3%, compared to 6% last year – and an end to the Council Tax discount on second homes from April 2017 which will raise another £380,000.
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