Early budget helps Council plan ahead
15 Dec 2011 11:30:49
Today East Ayrshire Council set its revenue budget for 2012/13 ahead of the rest of Scotland. The early decision was made possible by a continuous, prudent and common sense approach adopted by managers and services throughout the year and is designed to help the Council plan for the challenging times ahead.
The budget proposals agreed today rely on savings from a total of management actions which will avoid closures and on using in-year savings achieved from a range of initiatives including a root and branch review of management structures; a teacher refresh scheme; enabling more people to stay in their community rather than residential care homes and improvements in refuse collection and recycling.
Leader of East Ayrshire Council, Councillor Douglas Reid explained: “As soon as the last budget was approved in February we started planning for this one and concluding it now means we have more time to implement our decisions and, importantly, officers have more time to develop options to make changes for the future.
“The challenging financial position facing the public sector is not going away; our government grant is £1million less than last year and our operational costs continue to increase, but despite this, we remain committed to protecting our key services and our communities.”
In presenting the new budget the Leader announced plans for a new programme of external enhancement for existing council house stock, to complement the improvements already scheduled as part of the Scottish Housing Quality Standard project, and he confirmed that council house rent increases will remain below inflation at £1.99. He said he expected no changes in previously agreed grant funding for voluntary and social sector partners to enable them to start planning for the year ahead, and he announced that from April 2012, householders would no longer
be charged for bulky uplifts.
“We want to work together with the NHS to shift the balance of expenditure from reactive spend to preventative spend. Spending a little now can save a lot in the future and this includes, for example, the development of leisure and sports facilities.”
He concluded: “This budget gives us the time to plan, time to prepare and time to identify the kind of changes we will need to make over the next few years as a new Council after the May elections.”
Notes:
East Ayrshire has agreed to the following local commitments in order to secure the maximum settlement from the Scottish Government:
- Maintain council tax freeze
- Maintain teacher numbers in line with
pupils
- Secure places for all probationers under
the teacher induction scheme
- Pass on full share of funding to Police
Boards in line with existing levels, to help maintain the number of Police
Officers.
Budget proposals
- East Ayrshire Council’s Revenue Budget
for 2012/13 is £343 million
- Expect to receive £236.572million in
Government Grant
- Band D Council Tax will remain at
£1188.99
- No plans to alter previously agreed
Capital Programme
- In some cases services have chosen to
limit prices increases or indeed reduce charges for services to stimulate
demand
- In Waste Management, Bulky Household
Uplifts will be free (currently £15)
- Rent will increase by £1.99 over 52
weeks
- Increase of £0.16 over 52 weeks for
lockups and £1.19 per annum for garage sites.
ends