Dundee City Council budget: How is the local authority plugging a £24m black hole?

Ahead of this week’s budget, Dundee City Council leader John Alexander admitted the local authority was facing a £24m black hole.

This stark figure sparked fears there would be a wave of “depressing” cuts across the city, with plans to shutter attractions like Broughty Castle and Caird Park golf courses.

But when the SNP administration unveiled their budget proposals on Monday, the scale of cutbacks was not as bad as first feared.

Instead, ruling councillors are proposing a £620,000 investment to save facilities including the Mills Observatory and two libraries from immediate closure.

There is also unlikely to be any cuts to school crossing patrollers or bin collections, and controversial parking charges proposed for Broughty Ferry have been scrapped.

Dundonians will also benefit from a council tax freeze.

But how exactly is the local authority planning on plugging the £24 million deficit?

Identified savings

A little over £11m in savings have been identified by officers working across council departments.

The biggest saving – £1.9m – will be made by cutting the number of teacher posts in Dundee by 32.

Council officers also propose reducing contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme from 17% to 15.7%. This is expected to save £1.3m.

The introduction of an empty property relief scheme is expected to save Dundee City Council £1.7m.

Reducing pay award assumptions to 3% will also save £1.1m.

Additional income

Council leaders expect to raise around £2.5m in additional income through increasing certain charges.

This includes on and off-street parking charges, which is expected to generate close to £240,000. 

The cost of waste collection, including bin permits, is also set to rise and is expected to give Dundee City Council a little over £110,000. 

And increases to burial ground charges will provide an extra £62,682. 

Covid reserves

The SNP administration plans on using £6.6m from their Covid reserves to invest in a variety of services.

This is unspent funding provided to local authorities during the pandemic.

A little over £3m of this will be allocated to support the 2024/25 revenue budget.

The children services department will receive £2m to support them to achieve a balanced budget by March 31 2025.

And the £620,000 being set aside to support leisure and culture facilities is also being taken from the Covid reserves.

Cuts elsewhere

Around £400,000 will be saved through cuts to areas including the city’s marketing budget – which is expected to reduced by half.

This, the SNP say, will save £40,000 per year in 2024/25 and 2025/26.

It is also proposed there will be a reduction in the number of staff who support members of Scottish Youth Parliament (YMSP) and Dundee Youth Forum.

The removal of the dedicated youth fund is also mooted, which will save around £27,000.

A 5% reduction in funding given to organisations that currently receive more than £100,000 per year is also proposed.

Council tax

Dundee City Council will receive £3.4m from the Scottish Government to help fund the proposed council tax freeze.

The final budget will be set at meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday.