Moray savings decisions put off until after election

MORAY councillors today narrowly voted to defer a decision on ways to make more savings – finding itself in an "unprecedented situation" – until after the General Election.

Councillors voted to defer a paper on short-term savings for this year in the expectation of having big-picture clarity by January. Confusion reigns over what the settlement will look like for next year after the General Election on December 12.

The meeting of the full council had been due to consider a report by the depute chief executive of economy, environment and finance, Rhona Gunn, on short-term financial planning measures to reduce the predicted budget gap for 2020-21.

The current estimated budget gap for 2020-21 is £9.5 million.

The UK Government postponed the UK Budget announcement from November 6 due to the General Election – with the new announcement date not yet clear.

As a result of this delay, the Scottish Government cannot set their budget as proposed on December 12.

Efficiencies and savings the council were due to consider today included an increase in the green waste fee, higher burial charges and plans to reduce street lighting maintenance costs, among others.

Councillor Derek Ross (Speyside Glenlivet) moved to defer the financial planning item until after the General Election "given the current political environment". He said: "We're in a changing political environment and we don't know what extra money may be available from national governments to mitigate some of the cuts that we may be forced to make."

Mrs Gunn advised members that the council had an obligation to press ahead with its savings drive even in uncertain times. She said: "The firm view of the corporate management team and the chief executive is that the ongoing drive to achieve savings to reduce reliance on reserves is an ongoing obligation that falls on the council and is very much 'business as usual' – even in times as unusual as those we are currently living through."

Councillor George Alexander (Forres) said it would be wiser to prepare now and then "backtrack" if necessary if the settlement was higher than expected.

But chief executive Roddy Burns said: "The up-to-date intelligence I have is that the settlement for local government will be a difficult one for next year, so I think from that you can presume that it will not be rosy."

Council leader Councillor Graham Leadbitter (Elgin City South) expressed concern over the timescale left to make budget savings if the deferral was voted through. He said: "The challenge we have is that the budget is now likely to take place in March which gives officers an extremely short period of time to implement budget savings for the start of the new financial year in April. I would strongly recommend that we don't defer the paper and that we consider the options in front of us to enable officers to have an appropriate amount of time to take the preparations for these savings forward."

He said the position could then be reviewed if there was a "stonkingly good settlement" following the election.

Mrs Gunn said in the report the council must be ready to focus its attention on longer-term transformation of service delivery.

Councillors voted 12 to 11, with one abstention, to defer the paper.

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