Glasgow will hike council tax by 7.5 per cent as part of a plan to improve the condition of the city following years of complaints from residents.
SNP and Green councillors have agreed a deal which will be voted through at the City Chambers at a meeting later today.
Ricky Bell, the City Treasurer, admitted the council had been left “extremely frustrated by the negative impact that years of austerity have had on some of our frontline services”.
The budget for the year ahead includes £1.5m to recruit additional street cleansing staff and an extra £20m for the upkeep of roads, cycle lanes, pavements, parks and open spaces.
It also means £2.3m to recruit dedicated Neighbourhood Clean Teams for each ward in the city, able to respond quickly to local environmental issues such as flytipping.
Free school meals will also be extended to pupils in P6, with a plan to include P7 at next year’s budget.
Councillor Ricky Bell, the City Treasurer, said: “This is a budget that responds to the priorities of Glaswegians, investing in frontline staff within essential services, in the fabric of our communities and in support for families and households.
“These are still extremely challenging financial times for public services, but I am delighted that our settlement from the Scottish Government this year allows us to be able to not only remove difficult future year savings that were necessary to legally balance the council budget last year, but also to make significant investments to recruit staff in neighbourhoods, cleansing and parks services and raise capital funds for the maintenance of roads and pavements.
“Along with our fellow Glasgow residents, we have been extremely frustrated by the negative impact that years of austerity have had on some of our frontline services.
“That’s why, now that we finally have some cash available to invest, we’re directing a large proportion of it towards increasing our cleansing workforce by around 200 staff.
“We’ll deploy those staff where they can have the most impact, including dedicated Neighbourhood Clean Teams who will be able to respond promptly to issues within communities.
“I’ve instructed Council officers to ringfence 2.5 per cent of the increase to directly fund the frontline services we’ve prioritised in our budget, so Glaswegians can have confidence that’s what their contribution to local services will be used for.
“I’m very grateful to our Green colleagues for once again working with the SNP administration constructively and collegiately. We have each put city above party to ensure that we have a budget for Glasgow that provides both stability and vital investment.”
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, clickhere