Moray caution over Swinney spending plans
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MORAY Council’s convener is erring on the side of caution after John Swinney unveiled the Government’s spending plans for the next three years.
The Finance Secretary announced a continuation of the council tax freeze, moving £750 million from day-to-day spending to capital investment, no pay rise for public sector workers earning over £21,000 a year and a so-called ‘Tesco tax’ on large retailers selling tobacco and alcohol to pay for preventative policies.
There is no guarantee the increase in the capital budget will bring forward the River Findhorn and Pilmuir flood alleviation scheme at Forres.
The £40 million project has been put on the back burner after only £13.7 million in Government cash was given to progress the Elgin and second Forres flood schemes for 2011/12 – a shortfall of about £9 million.
Construction on the £83 million Elgin project got underway in April.
Scotland’s 32 councils are expected to receive the same amount of money for 2012/13 as for the current financial
year.
However, until detailed figures for councils are announced in December, convener George McIntyre is advocating care when drawing conclusions from Scotland-wide figures.
Last year there was a national reduction of 2.6% in Government cash for councils, but in Moray it amounted to a 4% drop.
Councillor McIntyre said: "The main point of concern at this time is uncertainty regarding the funding for the council tax freeze.
"In previous years the Government has provided additional funding to allow for this. If this funding is included in the current budget proposals, it will be equivalent to a cash reduction of £1.1 million for the council."
He added it would be highlighting to Cosla that if the total amount of funding for local government includes commitments for agreed public private partnership schemes, it would reduce the amount available for distribution.
Moray is due an increase of £3.4 million to fund the new Elgin Academy and Keith Primary schools being built under PPP arrangements, and scheduled for completion early next year.
Councillor McIntyre said: "The Government has highlighted the difficult national position regarding capital funding and locally we face a number of significant challenges including investment in the school estate, housing, roads and the local economy.
"We have lobbied the Government and Cosla to recognise the need to change the approach to funding flood alleviation schemes and are hopeful that the council will fare better through this spending review for the remaining schemes in Moray."
