National and local opposition politicians have bitterly attacked the 10% council tax increase for Argyll and Bute which was announced today.
Every other council in Scotland which has announced its budget to date has frozen the Council Tax, as promised by First Minister Humza Yousaf last October.
But yesterday the ruling TALIG group, made up of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and some independents said they faced a £10m gap in revenue next year, as well as ‘a £30m hole’ in capital spending.
Officials had recommended a 6% increase in council tax but they were overrules by elected members who pushed through the 10% rise by a margin of two votes.
Afterwards councillors and a local MSP expressed their anger, while MP Brendan O’Hara said it was ‘a real kick in the teeth’ for local people.
“The Scottish Government had made extra money available to Argyll and Bute Council, specifically to stop them foisting a huge financial burden straight on to people who are already struggling to navigate a way through the worst cost of living crisis in decades,” said the SNP MP.
“With the people of this constituency already having to manage with soaring energy cost, fuel prices, mortgage repayments and rampant food price inflation, this double-digit rise in the council tax shows just how completely out of touch the Tories and the Lib Dems are with the people of Argyll and Bute.”
And Jenni Minto, SNP MSP for Argyll and Bute, said Deputy First Minister Shona Robison had offered extra funding to support the council tax freeze.
“I hear every day from constituents who are struggling to make ends meet due to the Tory-made cost of living crisis,” she said.
Leader of the council’s strategic opposition partnership Jim Lynch said: “Today the opposition presented a competent budget which entirely avoided the need to increase council tax.
“There is no doubt that we are in a challenging financial position but the decision to place that burden on households across Argyll and Bute is a wholly political and avoidable one.
“The community on the Isle of Mull will be particularly disappointed to learn that the administration are considering breaking their promise to deliver a new school campus and instead considering the unsustainable option of refurbishment.”
Independent Councillor Dougie Philand added: “It is abundantly clear that the current administration is tone deaf to the financial challenges faced by local people.
“These councillors now have to face the people of Argyll and Bute in their own communities and explain why they chose not to follow advice from either our senior officers or the Scottish Government, by hiking the council tax by this totally unacceptable level.”
Who do these Councillors think they are, and what sort of First Minister have we got, when he can be overruled by them? Has the Government of Scotland got no teeth? I am 80 years old, and my wife79, both with serious illnesses, and are already paying £313.00 per month in band F. And for what? Just look at the state of the roads alone! Where are all the hundreds of millions going?