Fife Council’s Labour co-leader has warned the outlook for local services is “very bleak” without additional Scottish Government funding.
The government’s budget proposals will be debated by MSPs on Thursday.
Co-leader David Ross said Fife’s core grant from the Scottish Government had been cut by nearly £10 million.
“We are still hoping that opposition parties in the Parliament will prevail on the Scottish Government to find additional money for local government before the final Scottish Budget is agreed in February,” he said.
“Without this, it is a very bleak outlook for our services.”
Current calculations predict the council’s budget shortfall could rocket to £39.2m by 2021 and £54.3m by 2022.
Council tax bills are expected to rise in April as the council aims to chip away at a £15.4m budget gap for next financial year. The hike would save the council an estimated £4.6m.
Mr Ross previously warned basic local services are in jeopardy and that as many as 200 jobs, across support posts and the voluntary sector, could be lost amid budget reductions.
“When inflation and increased demand for services are taken into account, there is a significant gap between what it will cost to continue the current level of council services and the income we will receive,” he said.
“As we set out last November, we are proposing to raise the council tax by 3% next year, roughly in line with inflation, raising £4.6m.
“This still leaves a budget gap of around £12m. That means more cuts to services and jobs and we are struggling to see where those cuts can be made.”
The council needs in the region of £822m to deliver public services next financial year, with around £700m expected from the government through its funding settlement.
Draft proposals for the Scottish Budget will be debated in Parliament on Thursday and again next month before being finalised.
David Alexander, the council’s SNP co-leader, said there was a reduction in core funding but an extra £10m of ringfenced funding had been allocated for initiatives including additional free childcare and the introduction of Frank’s Law, which will extend free personal social care to anyone who needs it, regardless of age.
“We are finding it harder to make savings, not because this budget is particularly bad but because of decades of budget reductions, the cumulative impact,” he said.
“Having said that we are in a far better place than England where the councils have witnessed real term reductions exceeding 40% over the last decade whereas in Scotland the equivalent figure isn’t yet in double figures.
“We are doing the best we can to find innovative ways to increase revenue and manage reductions.”
