Published on:
22
January 2024
Residents are being invited to have a say on the range of options being put forward by officers as part of the Council’s budget setting process for 2024-25.
Clackmannanshire Council, like all councils, is facing further rising costs, reducing budgets and increased demand for services.
This year the Council has a budget of £152 million to spend on services such as education, health and social care and child care.
This funding, which comes from the Scottish Government (83%) and council tax (17%), is also used to provide services such as waste collection, recycling and to maintain our roads, footpaths and open spaces such as parks.
This year we are facing a budget gap of £11.56 million which means savings are unavoidable and levels of provision and service delivery may look different.
Despite these challenges, the Council is continuing to work hard through our Be the Future programme, to transform our local economy and tackle poverty and inequality, while driving sustainable change and ensuring financial stability.
Ahead of councillors taking decisions on the budget we want to hear from as many residents as possible on the proposals.
The options include increased charges for Council services.
It is worth noting the Scottish Government has announced a Council Tax freeze, funded to the equivalent level of a 5% increase, however, council tax levels are decided by the councillors as part of the budget setting process.
Each 1% increase raises £255,000 in income, and increasing income from council tax could be used to reduce the impact of service reduction.
Council leader, Councillor Ellen Forson said: “Making your voice heard only takes a few minutes and, as previous Council budgets have shown, it really does make a difference.
“It’s more important than ever that as many people as possible take part this year and tell us where they think the Council’s limited resources should be focused before the difficult decisions are taken.”
The engagement survey will remain online until 18 February 2024.
The results of the engagement will be presented to councillors before they make the final decisions at a budget meeting in March.
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