The leader of the opposition at Argyll and Bute Council has hit out at a lack of information on savings options as important decisions loom on the authority’s budget.
Cllr Sandy Taylor said he was ‘dismayed’ to find a report for a key meeting did not contain any further detail on policy savings which are proposed.
With the council facing a £9.2m fiunding gap, savings options were first announced in October before being put out to a public consultation, which closed on Monday.
The council will examine the results of this consultation before setting its budget for 2020/21.
That is due to happen in February, but it is feared that the recent general election will cause a delay to Scottish Government funding allocations, which will in turn delay the council’s plans.
Yesterday Kirsty Flanagan, the council’s head of strategic finance, gave the council’s policy and resources committee details of two further savings options which had been worked on since October.
Cllr Taylor, leader of the SNP group, said: “I am dismayed that we find ourselves in this position and still don’t have any detail coming forward from officers in relation to policy savings.
“We knew in October that we had a shortfall, notwithstanding the uncertainty surrounding ferry services.
“Kirsty is reporting every year up to this point that there is going to be a significant budget gap, so it is not like this is news to us.
“Why, in the last two or three months, have we been told that officers are preparing further budget savings, and they are not here before us?
“Why are we not finding out what people are working on? Are there more savings to come?”
Ms Flanagan replied: “We are about to conduct a review of loan charges, and that will give us savings, should members wish to take that up. That is one area which could bridge the gap.
“In the last couple of weeks we have also looked at the fleet [of vehicles]. There should be a saving there that was identified after I pulled together this report.
“So there are a couple of savings options which are not being reported at the moment. I will have the opportunity to report them at our members’ seminar on Monday, January 27.”
Cleland Sneddon, who was attending his last committee meeting as the council’s chief executive before leaving for a similar post with South Lanarkshire Council, also contributed to the debate.
He said: “I understand Cllr Taylor’s point, but this is not a small piece of work.
“Similar work is being done in other local authority areas and we are focusing on being cleverer in managing our finances.”
Cllr Taylor responded: “I am lost for words that I should find this out today.
“We should have far more clear and explicit details. This is coming across as being far more difficult to deal with.”
Mr Sneddon said that he did not pretend communication had been perfect, with Cllr Taylor answering: “I am absolutely happy to hear about this [the new savings options], but really unhappy to learn it today.”
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