Opposition parties on Dundee City Council have urged the SNP administration to drop its plans to raise the price of school meals.
Both the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups have submitted alternative budet proposals ahead of today’s crunch meeting in the City Chambers.
The City Council is facing a £15 million shortfall in its budget. Councillors will today be asked to approve a package of cuts, efficiency savings and increases in service charges that will raise £13.5 million.
They will also be asked to approve a 3% rise in council tax that will raise the remaining £1.5 million.
The administration is proposing raising the cost of school meals, burials and special collections of rubbish, as well as hiking parking charges across the city.
Labour group leader Kevin Keenan said: “Our budget is focused on making a difference to children, many of whose families are the working poor and are earning insufficient to give their children a fair chance.
“In Dundee, 38% of children are living in poverty.
“This is something that the Scottish Government and the administration here in the city have failed to do anything to address. The figures continue to grow year-on-year.”
Mr Keenan said his party would scrap the proposed increase in charges for school meals and instrument hire.
He also promised to address child poverty by assigning £10,000 to each of the Family Support Workers in the city’s 26 Primary Schools and £10,000 to each of the Pupil Support Workers in eight secondary schools — a total of £340,000
The Liberal Democrats are proposing amendments that would see proposed increases in school meals, burial charges, and social care charges scrapped, some car parking charge increases dropped and SNP cuts to recycling and the night noise team reversed.
Group leader Councillor Fraser Macpherson said: “We think the SNP’s proposed budget is ill-thought out. Putting up school meals charges and many of the other SNP increases fail to meet the goals of tackling social exclusion that they claim to champion. We can do better than that.”
Fellow Lib Dem Councillor, Craig Duncan, added: “We want to avoid the council tax increasing again this year.
“Council and other workers earning less than £36,500 will get their first pay increase over 1% in a long time this year. It will be 3% and then along comes the SNP and puts up their council tax by 3%.
“It is like giving with one hand and taking back with the other.”
But administration leader councillor John Alexander said the opposition parties should have put their proposals forward earlier so they could be properly scrutinised.
He said: “Whilst the Labour group, in particular, have continually spoken of the need for greater openness and transparency, they are found wanting on the most significant meeting of the year.
“While my administration sent our detailed proposals around all elected members in advance of the meeting to allow time for scrutiny and for people to digest, opposition politicians have specifically withheld theirs.
“It smacks of saying one thing in the public domain and doing another when they think people aren’t looking.
Mr Alexander added: “We don’t shy away from the real challenges that exist in the city, we use it as our motivation to change Dundee for the better.
“We want to work constructively with all councillors to improve services.”
