The North Lanarkshire Council Labour administration has been accused of “poor decision making” and a “way over-the-top” 10 per cent council tax increase as opposition parties react to the local authority’s budget.
SNP group leader Tracy Carragher said there had been a “complete lack” of income maximisation due to the historically low levels of council tax.
She also slammed the current and previous Labour administrations for the “staggering” impact of private finance initiative (PFI) projects which she says are costing tens of millions annually, and which she said had “cast a shadow” over North Lanarkshire for decades.
Councillor Carragher said: “The budget has been balanced on the back of cuts whilst ignoring income maximisation until now where we have been left with no choice but to play catch-up in terms of council tax.
“Historic decisions, had they been more balanced, would have meant a potentially cumulative effect of tens of millions of pounds of extra funding available to this council to protect the services that we provide.”
Councillor Carragher also highlighted increased employer National Insurance contributions, which will cost the council more than £11 million annually, saying that the UK’s Labour Government did not fully understand the impact this would have on the public sector and the wider economy, especially as they had refused to fully fund this in Scotland unlike England and Wales.
The SNP group’s budget proposals included reversing cuts to school transport, investment in school estate, parks and roads, removing pest control charges and additional funds for community groups.
Conservative group leader Sandy Watson moved for an eight per cent council tax increase, also with one per cent of this going to the Community Investment Fund.
He said that if it had been possible to propose a lesser tax increase his group would have done so but this would have led to making cuts to services they “were not prepared to countenance”.
Councillor Watson added: “We are conscious that many families are finding that the rise in the cost of living is difficult to cope with and, for that reason, we have kept the rise lower than might otherwise be justified.”
He labelled Labour’s ten per cent council tax rise “way over-the-top” and added that the savings proposed by the Conservatives were widespread and generally of smaller amounts so as not to impinge greatly on services, while any reductions in jobs were expected to be covered by voluntary redundancy.
After further debate and multiple rounds of voting, the Labour administration’s proposals were agreed.
Council leader Jim Logue told Lanarkshire Live: “This budget is fairly unique for the last decade or more.
“Unique because there will be no additional cuts to services, no job losses and a huge acceleration in investment.
“It is also unique in having the first significant council tax rises in many years. We know that residents are sick of cuts to the services they value so highly, and they want the council to invest positively in the future.
“Years of insufficient funding to councils from the Scottish Government, combined with council tax freezes, have meant very difficult decisions and cuts to services we would never have wished to make.
“So, the budget we have agreed, while it does increase council tax, is ambitious about the council’s services and is a huge boost to investment.
“Not only does this investment create outstanding new schools and facilities, but it also creates jobs and economic opportunities for the whole of North Lanarkshire.”
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