Dundee’s SNP administration has unveiled a £3.5 million package of savings to freeze the council tax for a sixth successive year.
The tough financial target would be achieved in part by a recruitment freeze among central staff in education, slashing devolved management budgets to schools, reducing the number of specialist music instructors in primary schools and removing visiting specialist music and physical education teachers.
Labour group leader Kevin Keenan expressed concern about the cuts, and said he would take time to study them in fuller detail.
SNP finance spokesman Willie Sawers hailed the move, however, saying front-line services would be protected and more money spent on the most vulnerable people in the city.
The savings were detailed to Thursday’s meeting of the council’s Changing for the Future Board but full details were not being delivered to councillors until Friday.
The proposed savings of £3.576 million for 2012-13 are much small than the £14.6 million package approved last year, and Councillor Sawers said: ”Once again we have been able to do deliver a council tax freeze while protecting front-line services that people rely on.
”Within the overall budget we have increased the spending on social work services by £4.398 million in order to support the most vulnerable in our city.
”Throughout the last year we have been working very hard to drive through a programme of efficiencies across the council as agreed by the Changing for the Future Board. This has helped limit the savings we now have to find to balance the budget.”
Education, the biggest spending department, is set to suffer a cut of £524,000. Some £200,000 would be trimmed by not recruiting to fill vacancies among central staff unless necessary and filling any posts internally where appropriate, and restructuring information and communication technology personnel.
The Determined to Succeed budget would be cut by £200,000 by reducing the devolved budgets to schools and other education establishments.
Three full-time equivalent (FTE) music instructors’ posts would be reduced from the primary sector to save £47,000, meaning tuition on musical instruments would not start until pupils reach P5 rather than P4.
Officers think this would still allow ensembles to operate and there is scope to move some of the instructors to secondary schools.
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Visiting specialists in music and physical education would be removed on a phased basis to save £77,000.
There are 5.6 FTEs in music and 6.2 in PE, and the council say primary teachers are already fully trained to deliver the music and PE curricula. There is also support available from the arts and PE areas.
Councillor Keenan noted savings had been taken from the reserves of the police and fire boards, and he said this was ”a smart move” given that the reserves would soon be lost to the council with the centralisation of police and fire boards throughout Scotland.
He continued: ”I will take time to study the full details of the proposed budget once it becomes available, but at this stage I have a few concerns.
”Dundee City Council has always described as one of its strengths the opportunities it offers to its young people in music and the arts. I am concerned that all the progress that has been made here may be jeopardised by these savings.
”Giving young people opportunities in music and the arts allows them to develop holistically, to build their character and fulfil their potential. It would be sad if all of this is threatened.
”The savings being sought from devolved management could affect the services we offer to our young people right through their school careers, and I am not sure how the removal of visiting PE teachers will square with the objective of giving pupils two hours of PE a week. This is one of the questions I will be asking.”
He added: ”I am concerned at how the drop in teacher numbers with the reduction in music and PE staff will be looked on by the Scottish Government in relation to the agreement, signed by Dundee SNP administration leader Ken Guild, to keep teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers.”
Conservative group leader Rod Wallace said his group would be meeting director of finance Marjory Stewart next week to go through the budget proposals and to put forward any savings his group considers may be worthwhile.
Liberal Democrat group spokesman Fraser Macpherson said: ”The budget settlement for Dundee from the SNP Government is very disappointing when you consider that Edinburgh and Aberdeen received cash increases for 2012-13 and Dundee suffered a reduction. This has an impact on service provision and the necessity to find savings.
”It is good to deliver a council tax freeze for another year in Dundee for five years under the SNP and a year under the Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition but the compensation received from the Scottish Government does not fully cover the cost of providing these savings.”
The budget and council tax for 2012-13 will be set on February 9.