Dundee City Council braces for 'unprecedented' cuts
Dundee City Council faces having to make "unprecedented" savings of £40 million in its budgets over the next three years.
The programme of business at last night's meeting.
- By Brian Allison
- Published in the Courier : 24.08.10
- Published online : 24.08.10 @ 12.13pm
Chief executive David Dorward told councillors at Monday night's policy and resources committee that the savings would have to be made "simply to balance the books."
He said the breakdown of the figures called for £20 million in the 2011/12 financial year with another £10 million in each of the following two years.
"This is an unprecedented level of savings over a short period of time," he said.
Mr Dorward said a list of 33 projects has been drawn up under the heading Changing for the Future, which would transform the structure of the council and the services it delivers. They include plans for the management of council assets to achieve better value and examining the way goods and services are procured.
Cutting the council's workforce, and therefore its wage bill, through an early retirement and voluntary redundancy scheme will also be part of the savings.
"These projects, when implemented, will deliver savings for future years but further savings are required to balance the budget next year," Mr Dorward said. "Consequently, chief officers (of the various council departments) are currently looking at up to 5% savings in their budgets for 2011/12 to help meet the £20 million target."
The £40 million over three years is not guaranteed to be the worst-case scenario and the figures could be even higher depending on the outcome of central government decisions later this year. However, finance director Marjory Stewart said they were based on the best information available at the moment.
Mr Dorward recommended the setting up of a board to oversee the programme. It would be chaired by himself and comprise senior members of the SNP administration, leaders of the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats groups plus the lord provost and depute lord provost, both as independents.
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