Council welcomes funding formula review
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A REVIEW of the formula for the distribution of cash to local authorities in Scotland has been agreed, with preparatory works underway.
A meeting of Moray Council, held yesterday morning, heard the convention of scottish local authorities (COSLA) voted in favour of the probe last month.
Moray councillors across the political divide have long argued the current formula – used by the Scottish Government to share out money across the country's 32 local authorities – disadvantages Moray and repeated calls have been made for a shake-up.
Now, the local authority will prepare to make its case for a larger slice of the pie as the review proceeds.
Council leader, Councillor Graham Leadbitter (Elgin City South) said it won't help Moray's financial plight in the immediate future.
"But at least it is actually underway as it was a battle to get to that point," he said.
Buckie member Tim Eagle welcomed the confirmation, adding: "I think that is really good and I think smaller authorities may benefit from that ultimately."
After the meeting, Cllr Leadbitter said: "Moray as a council now has work to do to ensure we feed the issues we have with the current formula into this review and the outcome accurately reflects the pressures and needs and demands that our communities face."
It has been more than a decade since the formula was last reviewed.
"The current formula is now not fit for purpose and needs this review to ensure that areas like Moray have an equitable settlement that recognises the various pressures that we encounter as a smaller authority but spread over a large geographic area," he added.
The issue was raised as a monitoring report on Moray's revenue budget for the first six months of 2019/20 was considered by the area's 26 elected members.
It showed the estimated out turn position for the local authority as an underspend of £1.77 million against budget for the 2019/20 financial year.
That's despite some of the savings agreed by councillors not being achieved. A report to committee said additional savings had been identified, largely countering this.
It means the authority will still have to dig into its reserves to balance the books, but as it stands it will need to take less from the pot than previously planned.
