If you’re sad and feeling blue go out and buy a brand new pair of shoes.
The advice once offered by erstwhile Lizard King Jim Morrison, was brought to mind when dozens of punters queued up for hours to splash their cash on limited edition Adidas trainers on sale in the city last week.
The Doors singer’s words of wisdom may also have rung true for Dundee City Council finance convener Willie Sawers in recent times.
While it’s not known if Bailie Sawers is a fan of either The Doors or limited edition Adidas Gazelles, one thing is certain: the council budget is in a vice-like squeeze and he is the man charged with deciding what gets cut and who pays more.
Over the next financial year, the council needs to find £6.4 million of savings, not taking into account the additional £3.6 million of funding it is to receive from the Scottish Government.
These savings are necessary despite the SNP administration’s proposed 2.5% rise in council tax.
The council is also proposing increasing a range of charges, from car parking to uplifting rubbish as it seeks to balance the books.
Mr Sawers has described the tax rise as “modest” after the 10-year council tax freeze and says the authority will be able to prioritise “jobs, fairness and young people”.
These are noble aims as far as they go but while the decade-long freeze has been good news for those who pay the bills, it has been a headache for those in charge of local government purse strings.
Council services have been starved of funding for years due to cuts in central funding.
Although the council tax only provides a fraction of a local authority’s budget, councils have been unable to increase charges to mitigate the worse of these cuts because of the Scottish Government-mandated freeze.
Now, with the damage already done and more cuts to come, councillors are finally being given the power to start raising bills.
This might be a necessity but it is unlikely to be very popular with those finding themselves with less money in their pocket each month to blow away the blues.
