More than half of residents in West Dunbartonshire would be prepared to pay more council tax – if it meant less cuts to services.
The findings are published in a report analysing WDC’s Budget Conversation survey, where residents are asked to prioritise where their council tax is spent.
In total 685 people responded to the survey – a quarter of whom came from G83 postcodes covering Alexandria and Balloch.
Respondents were asked: “Would you be prepared to pay more council tax in order to reduce the savings required.”
In response 50.07 percent of residents said that they would, with 47.88 percent saying that they wouldn’t and the remaining 2.04 percent saying that they didn’t know.
West Dunbartonshire Council faces an estimated budget gap of £10.27m for 2025/26, rising to £55.563m in 2029/30.
This year’s black hole however is considerably less than last year when it sat at almost £20m, and unpopular decisions including a cut to general waste collections and the relocation of Balloch Library were taken.
Last October, then First Minister Humza Yousaf made the surprise announcement that council tax would be frozen across Scotland in an attempt to help hard-up households during the cost of living crisis.
At the time, he said: “Let’s be frank with each other, we’re living in a cost of living crisis.
“I, in my constituency surgeries, see people who are on above average salaries come to my constituency offices and ask for financial help. People who are nurses, who are police officers who are teachers.
“Therefore it is right that in this cost of living crisis we try to help them with bills that are rising and rising. One bill we are able to help with is the council tax.”
However the move was slammed by local authority leaders due to a lack of consultation, with Labour leader of WDC Martin Rooney warning: ”Our First Minister has now taken away our primary way of raising funding locally. This means the only course of action left to us is to make much deeper cuts to local services than we would want to.”
Holyrood has yet to announce if local authorities will be allowed to increase council tax in 2025, with local authorities likely to push for an increase of at least five percent if given the green light.
WDC’s performance over the last year will also come under scrutiny next week.
Further reports which will be presented to members at Church Street on Wednesday (October 30) show a further fall in the percentage of locals happy with the condition of roads.
Just 22 percent of residents said they were satisfied with road maintenance, down from 29 percent last year – and well shy of the council’s own target of 40 percent.
60 percent of locals say they are satisfied with ground maintenance and grasscutting after services were reduced, down by 16 percent on the previous year.
The percentage of household waste recycled meanwhile sits at 35 percent, well below the 60 percent goal.
However the cash-strapped council has exceeded expectations – and satisfaction – in areas of housing.
83 new properties were made available for social rent – three higher than the target – with 100 percent of tenants happy with the quality of new build homes when surveyed.