Council tax freeze confirmed for East Dunbartonshire

At a meeting last night, councillors were advised of the latest current savings target.

Council leader Rhondda Geekie said: “Aggregating our grant settlement, council tax income and the current cost of delivering our services, we find ourselves facing a savings target of £10.9 million.”

In accepting the Scottish Government settlement, the Council must agree to a Revenue Budget for 2016/17 that will deliver the following package of measures:

- A council tax freeze

- Maintaining teacher ratios

- Health and social care partner priorities

Councillor Geekie confirmed: “The council was required to commit to a council tax freeze as part of our settlement or we would face financial sanctions.

“At our meeting tonight, this council tax freeze was agreed and now our focus must turn to how we will make the £10.9 million savings – which we cannot forget is on top of almost £50 million in savings over the past ten years.

“Balancing our budgets in recent years has become more and more challenging and I do not relish the decisions we face on 17 March when we finalise where £10.9 million in savings can be made.

“I think it is only fair to emphasise again that changes to service delivery in East Dunbartonshire are inevitable given the scale of the challenge we face.”