Scotland’s council tax freeze needs to end as a matter of urgency if many of the planned multi-million-pound cuts at council level are to be avoided, it has been claimed.
With just over a fortnight to go until Fife Council sets its budget for the next financial year, independent councillors Bryan Poole and Willie Clarke say they have had enough of the “pretence” of the annual budget setting meetings.
They are now demanding Labour and the SNP “own up to the crises in funding” for public services at a national level and work together to seek urgent change.
Describing the budget meeting such as the one that will take place on February 12 at Fife House, Glenrothes, as a “bit of a farce”, both councillors are planning to have their own discussions with Fifers about what they describe as the “elephant in the room” how to avoid many of the planned multi-million-pound cuts by implementing a small increase in the council tax.
Mr Poole said: “What we see at councils throughout Scotland, including Fife, at budget day meetings are councillors of all persuasions effectively arguing, ‘My cuts proposals are better or less damaging than yours’.
“Even the language used is misleading. Instead of ‘cuts to services’ councillors prefer to talk about making savings.
“The reality and honest position is that for several years councils have had the finance available to them reduced in real terms and at the same time the demand and need for services has increased year on year.
“The result of this charade is that a significant chunk of the council’s energy goes in to managing crises a bit like the Dutch boy trying to stem the breach in the dyke by sticking his finger in the hole.
“What’s actually happening is that councillors just move resources from one underfunded service to another underfunded service. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is another way of putting it.
“One example of this is that the transportation budget over the years has been cut/reduced by around 35% to offset the need to support prop up the budget available to support care in the community but what we are now left with is a huge backlog of road maintenance issues and older people services creaking in short, neither service is meeting local needs.
“It’s time we had an honest and open discussion with local communities about resolving this year-on-year farce.”
Benarty and Kelty councillor Willie Clarke, who is Fife’s longest-serving elected member, said: “I am sensing from the people, community groups and communities in Fife that there is feeling out there that the cuts to local public services have gone far enough.
“Many people who I speak to about this, and I know Bryan Poole is getting the same feedback, are saying ‘I’d be prepared to pay a little bit extra each week to protect services particularly services to the elderly and the education of our young people’.
“I was also active in the recent referendum campaign and I picked up a very strong view from both sides of the argument of the need to protect the public services in Scotland and again there was a real commitment to protecting services for older people and the education of our young people.
“I think it’s time we tested this out and with that in mind Bryan and I have arranged a number of public meetings in the lead up to the Fife Council budget where we will be laying out the budget challenge.”