Council's service charges hike could be 'hard sell'

PEOPLE in Moray face paying up to 5 per cent more for council services next year.

The policy and resources committee yesterday broadly agreed to the 5 per cent figure as a default increase for council services charges for 2020-21 – but councillors were warned that the hike could be a "hard sell".

As Moray Council continues its drive to claw back £10 million to plug its funding gap, committee chairman Aaron McLean summed up that, in general, people were willing to pay more to safeguard valued services.

The exact charge levels will come under the committee's scrutiny for change or approval in January, by which time each council department will have reviewed charges in detail.

Depute chief executive (economy, environment and finance) Lorraine Paisey, in her report to councillors, warned: "Increasing prices only increases the income to the council if usage of services remains buoyant."

Councillor Tim Eagle (Buckie) said: "It's a real shame that we have to go to 5 per cent but we do have inflationary pressures every year and so charges are going to fluctuate and we have to accept that."

He added: "There are various chargings that we make that might not benefit from a 5 per cent increase – musical instruction, FitLife, harbours, school meals, for example. I'd want absolute certainty in that paper in January that any increase is not going to actually end up reducing our income overall."

Council leader Graham Leadbitter said: "We've had a number of discussions with the corporate management team and senior management team about charges and that 'price point'. A good example is around school meals charging – there is a level that if you go beyond it then it will start to drop off.

"I'm confident that our service managers are well cited in that and are taking that into account as they develop their charging proposals that will come up in January."

Councillor Frank Brown (Elgin City North) urged councillors to also look at services that could stand to raise charges above the 5 per cent to maximise income. He said: "It's also about looking at these charges which might actually stand quite easily an increase in excess of 5 per cent. For example, the £45 that was charged to a circus could perhaps go up by considerably more than 5 per cent. I do believe there are opportunities to do just that."

Councillor Donald Gatt (Keith and Cullen) said the rise above inflation would be a "hard sell". He said: "Trying to justify 5 per cent when inflation is at 1.7 per cent (or 2.6 per cent depending which measure you take) is a tall order.

"Everybody understands that things go up with inflation but to actually more or less double inflation seems a bit of a hard sell."

Mrs Paisey said increasing income generation was one important way to meet the budgetary challenges faced by the council without cutting the level of services.

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