Highland Council Projecting A Huge Budget Gap
27th October 2023
The Highland Council has forecast a significant financial gap for the coming years, with a projected budget gap of £60-70 million for next year (2024/25).
Members have a legal obligation to set a balanced budget and proposals will be developed and presented to Council for agreement at the end of February 2024.
There is still considerable uncertainty until the end of December around what the grant will be from the Scottish Government for 2024-25, and the funding to implement a Council Tax freeze.
Leader of the Council Raymond Bremner said: "While we understand the cost of living crisis for our communities, local authorities are also facing incredible cost pressures in the shape of inflation, high rates of interest and the need to fund pay settlements.
"We anticipate we will have an unprecedented budget gap next year of around £60-70m and a shortfall of around £100m over the next 3 years has been forecast.
"Without adequate funding, we will have a choice of making service reductions or increasing income or a mixture of both. Service reductions would also mean job losses and that is something we are doing everything possible to avoid, as this would be disastrous for communities and our economy in the Highlands."
Convener Bill Lobban added: "This Council has managed through prudent financial management to build up a level of reserves which were used to balance our budget this year. However, that cannot continue, and we must find a sustainable way forward to ensure we can provide the badly needed services that Highland people deserve, including having control over our spending and the income we generate."
Councillor Derek Louden Chair of Resources Committee said: "Last year we set one of the lowest council tax rates in Scotland in recognition of the cost of living crisis in our communities.
"Council tax freezes have a long term negative impact on local authority budgets and effectively widen the budget gap in the coming years.
“We will continue to work with our COSLA colleagues, to get clarification of the Scottish Government's plans and how the cost of any freeze would be funded, both for next year and mitigation of the impact on future years' budgets."
Read the council paper HERE
Related Businesses
Related Articles
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
