Households in Renfrewshire will not see a rise in Council Tax or rent after Councillors voted to freeze Council Tax, council rents and adult social care charges for the coming year.
Scottish Government changes to legislation mean council tax bands for properties in Bands E to H will increase from April this year.
The council owns around 12,000 homes in Renfrewshire and all its tenants will see their rent remain at the current level in 2017/18.
Renfrewshire Council’s budget for 2017-18 was set at a Council meeting this afternoon and will provide a budget of £386 million for existing public services.
The budget takes account of a £16 million reduction in annual spending to address a budget shortfall which must be met in the coming year. This shortfall has been managed by savings delivered through the Council’s effective debt management and its Better Council change programme which improves efficiencies across the council, meaning that the budget shortfall will not hit front line services or the pockets of people in Renfrewshire.
The Council budget also sees the following investment:
- The largest single investment for maintenance of our roads network with £6.7million for key routes to keep Renfrewshire’s economy moving freeing up extra resource for residential roads
- An additional £1.5million for Council initiatives to tackle poverty such as providing money and energy advice, literacy programmes, breakfast clubs, supporting families with the cost of the school day and supporting digital participation across the region
- An extra £1.5million funding will be used for a refurbishment of St Anthony’s primary and a new Spateston nursery in Johnstone
- An extra £150,000 funding to remove music tuition fees for every child in Renfrewshire schools and a doubling of the Cultural Heritage and Events Fund with an extra £500,000 to benefit dozens of community arts groups across the region
- An extra £1million for investment in community facilities as well as £20,000 for each of the region’s Local Area Committees to expand the grants available to their local communities.
- All fees and charges, including those for adult social care and Council-owned leisure facilities, will also be frozen for the coming year, including fitness class fees and hire of football pitch facilities.
Leader of the Council, Councillor Mark Macmillan, welcomed the budget and said the measures agreed would help protect Renfrewshire residents from some of the severe cuts faced by public services.
Councillor Macmillan said: “We are ambitious for Renfrewshire and what it can achieve and I am pleased we have been able to protect the pockets of people who live and work in the area despite the ongoing cuts and increasing pressures on our budget.
“Through our effective management of the public purse, we have listened to what matters to our communities and continued to freeze the Council Tax at current rates as well as freeze council rents, charges for adult social care and charges for our leisure facilities across the region.
“We are a region of great prosperity but also significant inequality and we want to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities through education and employment to grow a Renfrewshire that is an attractive place to visit, work and invest in.
“Our communities have a history of great talent and by tapping into that talent and investing in it through the removal of music tuition fees and through funding for our talented communities, we can open up access to opportunities that can change the lives of those who take part in such activities. Our Paisley bid for UK City of Culture 2021 is part of our ambition to tap into and develop that talent to ensure future generations of success.”
Commenting on Renfrewshire Council’s budget meeting, SNP Group Leader Cllr Kenny MacLaren said: “Although I welcome the council tax freeze – it is a bit ironic, coming from a Labour administration who have not only continually said Renfrewshire was underfunded, but have been arguing for the ability to increase the council tax almost every year!
“Similarly the investment in roads is to be welcomed but as I pointed out Labour councillors have a history of putting a big amount of funding in one year and then slashing the funding in successive years. If they were to maintain the investment they promised last time, then they would have invested an additional £13 million over the last five years. What we need is a sustainable, long term investment in our roads network, not one off boosts followed by drastic reductions.
“Labour offered nothing for the environment. Their years of cutting street cleaning, tackling dog fouling and other environmental issues has left large parts of Renfrewshire looking tired and run down. The SNP proposed a one-off £2.5 million Cleaner Renfrewshire fund to tackle the issues that matter most to our communities.
“The SNP have followed a consistent line when it comes to investing in the environment and roads, that is why we believe the £7.5million that Labour have banked for an elite sports village is a waste of resources. It was however embarrassing for Labour’s Depute Finance Convener when he tried to claim that our opposition to this funding would impact on the proposed new housing for Ferguslie. Obviously he hadn’t read his papers properly, where it clearly stated that the additional £5.2million for new housing would be in addition to the £7.5million for the Sports Village!”
Cllr Mags MacLaren added: “In a world where we have ever increasing budgets the aspiration of a sports village would be nice. However, when resources are scarce this is a luxury we can’t afford while we have sports facilities which are currently being neglected.”