Moray Council budget proves to be mixed bag for Buckie
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THERE was some good news for Buckie in a Moray Council budget where the emphasis was very much on making savings.
Budget plans were approved by full council on Wednesday, March 1 which included setting aside £11.2 million reserve earmarked for the learning estate with Buckie Community High School and Forres Academy awaiting Scottish Government funding announcements on new build replacements.
Waste upgrades this coming financial year will see works totalling £350,000 undertaken at Dallachy landfill site at Spey Bay while some £225,000 has been earmarked for Gollachy Recycling Centre in Buckie.
However, there was bad news for the Area Forums across Moray, including those at Buckie and Milne's, which serves the Fochabers area, with the council axing their £4000-a-year grant.
Householders will have to dig deeper into their pockets during 2023-24 with council tax set to rise by five per cent, a move which is expected to generate an extra £49.6 million in revenue. the hike means that a Band D property will cost residents £1430.
The budget, proposed by Moray Council's Conservative administration, was changed to include all of Labour's proposed measures in exchange for their support.
This was pitted against an SNP proposal and passed by 15 votes to 10, with one abstention.
The SNP's budget proposal included measures to support people in fuel poverty, bolster Moray's youth workers and community wardens and abandon plans to scrap a council climate change role.
The budget met with mixed reactions from Buckie's three elected members, councillors Sonya Warren (SNP), John Stuart (SNP) and Neil McLennan (Independent).
Councillor Warren said that an opportunity had been missed by the council's Tory administration in not backing the SNP group's budget amendments.
She said: "What we put forward was aimed at supporting our communities and addressing the issues they have told us are important to them.
"For example, there are constant issues with anti-social behaviour across Moray – having the youth workers we proposed would've provided great support to our young people across the local authority area.
"We also proposed retaining the Climate Change Strategy Officer who would be instrumental in developing the LHEES [Local Housing Energy Efficiency Strategy] strategy and promoting community engagement.
"Our proposals were very much aimed at supporting our communities. It's quite simply astounding that the Tory administration could take all six of the Labour group's amendments on board but not a single one of the SNP group's.
"I'm a bit concerned that there's apparently no information for swimming pool refurbishment over the forthcoming financial year – hopefully more details will be made available in the near future.
"On the plus side, I'm delighted to see £225,000 allocated for upgrades at Gollachy recycling centre."
Buckie SNP Councillor John Stuart, who seconded the SNP budget amendment put forward by group co-leader Councillor Graham Leadbitter, criticised the budget deal between the Tories and Labour
He said: “In seconding our amendment...I firmly believed that we were offering a true alternative to benefit our communities.
“People have told us what is important to them, and we listened and put forward our amendment.
“It was interesting to hear of an apparent collegiate approach that the administration has used. It was made abundantly clear...that this does not include our group. As SNP councillors, we stand as a group of nine, backed by the most votes cast in the council elections in May and the by-election in November 2022.
"The developments...show the makings of an alliance between the Tories and Labour which does not reflect the votes cast by people living in Moray.
“We will continue to advocate for the people in our communities, we have a lot of support out there and many people will be disappointed.”
Following the budget meeting, Councillor McLennan wrote to the Chief Executive of Moray Roddy Burns Council seeking an explanation as to why his budget proposals were rejected. He described it as a "progressive budget that could have gained cross party support".
Councillor McLellan continued: “I am extremely disappointed that my budget was ruled out today – not disappointed for me but disappointed for the citizens of Moray who will now be worse off thanks to a budget being passed which does not tackle the cost of living crisis.
"My balanced budget would have done what Audit Scotland have asked Moray Council to do and that is become less reliant on preserving services from reserves.
“My budget would have seen a new community school being progressed in Buckie as well as new council housing in Forres, however what we have instead is a budget that does not invest in Moray and uses reserves to plug an unsustainable gap in our funding. I really worry for Moray given that it would appear that the administration do not wish to challenge on important scrutiny matters such as £1.6 million ear-marked reserves being used for transformation without liking the recommendation directly to plans or prior approvals.
"Councillors must keep providing scrutiny to ensure best value for people in these difficult times.”
The coming financial year presented councillors with a funding gap totalling £21.6 million.
Alongside the £193.4 million grant from the Scottish Government, which accounts for around 80 per cent of the total budget, the local authority is looking to use £14.77 million in Covid reserves, and £1.6 million from the transformation allocation to balance the books this year.
Around £2.3 million of savings have already been approved from the disposal of surplus property, changes to temporary job roles, retaining the three-weekly recycling collections, restructuring and more. A further £1.67 million of savings has been identified for the coming year including homelessness and out of hours service reviews, housing energy efficiency strategy; and existing vacancies.
However, elected members have noted the requirement for a further £18.7 million of savings in 2024/25. How that is achieved will be the subject of forthcoming community engagement sessions to allow Moray residents to influence the council they want to see.
Moray Council has committed to £59.1 million capital investment alongside its £260 million revenue budget for the 2023/24 financial year.
Following the setting of the budget, Moray Council leader Councillor Kathleen Robertson, said: “We’ve known for some time that balancing the budget this year would be impacted, not only on our own financial situation, but external and global factors such as the increase in construction costs, rate of inflation and more.
“The challenge has been to ensure Moray still has the level of investment needed to continue our recovery from the pandemic and develop our economy to meet our aspirations, while being financially prudent enough to operate within our means.
“Across our workforce, at all levels, we see staff continuing to deliver high levels of service and I thank them for their efforts in the face of budget pressures. Their commitment to public service is valued by the community and they will be supported as we look to the year ahead.
“There is no magic wand to help local authorities deal with the concerns we have over budgets. Which is why it’s ever more important that we work together as a council, and a community, to identify sustainable practices to shape the future of our region. I look forward to the community engagement exercises planned for the coming months, which will give residents their voice in that future.”
