Savings of more than £50 million will need to be made by Perth and Kinross Council over the coming five years, councillors have been told.
During an update on the council’s medium term financial plan they heard that their approach in recent years had been “robust and successful”, securing £56m of savings in the revenue budget over the past five years.
Greater collaboration with partner organisations and identifying entrepreneurial opportunities are among the ways savings will be made but the level of pay increases for employees is an uncertain factor, the meeting heard.
Council leader Ian Miller said the financial plan “makes a number of assumptions about future funding levels, the most realistic of these being that we need to find further savings of £53m over that five-year period”.
He added: “That’s the mid-range scenario and I won’t even look at the worst-case scenario.
“The Westminster Government’s stated aim is to continue with a programme of austerity and that indicates that our overall financial position will not improve in the near future.
“It’s therefore vitally important that we continue along the route of travel that we have already set for this council of prudent management of our available finances.
“In a situation like this forward planning is vital and we will be well placed, in comparison to many other authorities, because of the various measures we have already taken or have prepared for in terms of service redesign and workforce planning.”
Mr Miller said the assessment gave him “little pleasure” but he believed it was realistic.