Budget for year ahead agreed

Elected Members have set Orkney Islands Council’s budget for the next financial year.

The Policy and Resources Committee agreed that £82 million should be spent on running Council services in 2017-18.

Members decided that savings of £842,000 should be found during the year ahead.

This follows a reduction of £1.1 million in the funding the Council will receive from the Scottish Government to run services in 2017-18.

Councillors also agreed:

• That Council Tax charges should rise by 3%, which would increase the Band D annual charge from £1,037 to £1,068.
• That funding support for the voluntary sector increase by 1% for the seventh year running.
• That existing fees and charges for Council services should increase by at least 3% from April 1. Exceptions would include Orkney Ferries fares, charges for planning applications and building warrants, licensing fees, car parking, trade waste collections, and social care charges that are set by legislation.

During the budget setting process, a great deal of effort went into finding ways to lessen the impact of cost savings on services, jobs and the Orkney community.
However, there will be a reduction of the Council’s workforce by the equivalent of 8.3 full time equivalent posts. Of these, 2.5 FTE posts are currently vacant.

For the remaining posts, the intention is to avoid compulsory redundancies if at all possible and look instead at alternatives such as redeployment, voluntary redundancy and retirement.

Elected Members decided that a contribution of £7 million should come from the Strategic Reserve Fund to support services during the year ahead - over £3 million more than the amount taken a year ago to support the running of services.

Feedback to the Budget Simulator exercise last October included a willingness among the public for increased fees and charges, an increase to the Council Tax, and a larger-than-usual draw on OIC’s reserves, to help protect education, social care and other key services.

Council Convener Steven Heddle said the increased contribution from reserves should be seen as a short-term measure. It would cushion the immediate impact on services as OIC prepares for an anticipated gap of around £12 million in its funding over the next five years.

After a nine year freeze, the Scottish Government has given local authorities the option to raise the Council Tax by up to 3% for 2017-18.

Increasing Council Tax bills in Orkney by 3% from April 1 will bring in an additional £242,000 in revenue for OIC. New Scottish Government legislation will result in additional Council Tax charges for higher-value properties. In Orkney, these increased charges for properties in valuation bands E to H would result in a further £174,000 in revenue for the Council.

The following Council Tax charges will apply in Orkney for the year ahead:

Households with only one adult living in the property will continue to receive a discount of 25% on the charges detailed above.