A local councillor is pleading for more Scottish Government funding to avoid hundreds of job losses in Perth and Kinross Council.
Cllr Peter Barrett has described PKC’s financial predicament as “dire” and “critical” with the “most severe cuts and savings proposals that Perth and Kinross Council has ever faced”.
Earlier this month chief executive Thomas Glen told councillors PKC faced a projected £31 million black hole of a funding gap in its 2023/24 revenue budget.
Urgent action needed
Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett is calling for urgent action to save “hundreds” of jobs as well as council services which he says are “at absolute breaking point”.
The Liberal Democrat councillor has written to nine local and list MSPs whose constituencies all include Perth and Kinross. Cllr Barrett has pressed them to push for more cash during the third stage of the Scottish Budget bill on Tuesday, February 21.
Cllr Barrett has laid bare the stark reality of the PKC’s finances in his letter.
He wrote: “This is the toughest budget with the most severe cuts and savings proposals that Perth and Kinross Council has ever faced.
“The proposed settlement will lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs in Perth and Kinross Council.
“It will impact upon the local economy and the local companies who supply goods and services to the council, companies in your constituency who are reliant on their contracts to employ local people.
“Council services will now be at absolute breaking point and some may have to stop altogether.
He added: “The scale of council tax rises required to bridge the gap is unconscionable recognising the cost-of-living crisis and this council’s need to protect the most vulnerable in our communities.”
‘Give councils more cash’
Cllr Barrett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The situation is critical. So far all efforts to persuade the Scottish Government to recognise the plight of local government have fallen on deaf ears.
“This is despite massive inflation, rapidly rising need for services, increasing complexity of need for vulnerable communities, and in the teeth of a cost of living crisis.
“The Scottish Government needs to listen and parliament needs to act with urgency to give councils more cash and the autonomy to spend it where it is most needed. Tuesday is the deadline, they need to do this before it is too late.”
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