Perth and Kinross Council savings dominated by staff cost cuts
Perth and Kinross Council's spending this year has been helped by more than £5.5 million in savings on staff.
- By Alan Richardson
- Published in the Courier : 13.09.11
- Published online : 13.09.11 @ 01.51pm
It says more than £11 million has been trimmed from the budget, bringing its total savings since 2006 to more than £34 million.
By far the largest slice of the cuts has come in staff costs, with many posts left unfilled as they become vacant.
Council leader Ian Miller said: "This council remains absolutely committed to making the best possible use of public resources available to us.
"Meeting our savings targets allows us to deliver the best quality services we can to our residents in these financially-constrained times.
"I am very pleased that we have already been able to plough a substantial amount back into our frontline services and we will continue to do this into the future.
"We have taken a prudent but forward-looking approach to identifying where we can make savings and provide a better service without additional cost.
"All this will help us to keep maintaining and improving our services in the long-term for the benefit of communities across Perth and Kinross."
A report on the matter will be considered at a meeting of the council's strategic policy and resources committee on Wednesday.
Councillors will hear £10.864 million in cash efficiency savings have been identified for 2010/11, just above 3% of the council's net revenue budget for the year.
These come from all services and include £6.2 million of recurring savings. They also include £1.519 million of capital receipts from the disposal of council assets to reduce borrowing costs.
Alongside this, £564,000 has been saved from the housing revenue account. This is in addition to cash efficiency savings of £20.5 million already made between 2006/7 and 2009/10.
More than £2 million has also been saved in the same period by changing the way the council uses its existing resources.
The council's annual efficiency statement has already been submitted to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities for inclusion in its national return to the Scottish Government.
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