Our budget challenge - survey results

Tomorrow we will officially publish the results from our Budget Challenge survey which launched at the end of last year.

1077 members of our community took the opportunity to respond to the consultation -  many more than responded in previous years – indicative of an increased understanding from the public of the financial challenge our organisation is facing and the value that our community place, not only on council services, but also on having their say on what happens with those services.  

Elected members have been provided with the survey results and at our annual budget setting meeting on 25 February will be considering a range of proposals – including the level at which we set our Council Tax from 1 April this year. 

Key findings were:

• A significant proportion said they’d be in favour of Orkney Islands Council generating more income – through increasing council tax or charging more for some services.  
• 47% of the 1077 members of the community who responded to the consultation said they’d be in favour of higher council tax increases in order to protect community services.   
• In addition, 72% had either agreed or strongly agreed that the Council should increase direct charges for some services.  

You can get early sight of the full report here.  The report sets out the overall response to each of the proposals that were presented – including a breakdown between mainland and ferry-linked isles responses – as well as a summary of the comments which were made on each.

Should you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your line manager to discuss them.

The results will be published online at www.orkney.gov.uk/budgetsurvey from tomorrow morning.

Kind regards

Oliver

Oliver D Reid

Chief Executive