Fiery meeting hears council savings target will not be met - now vacant posts may remain unfilled
PLANS to save millions of pounds by changing school timetables, renegotiating school building contracts and slashing councillors’ canteen food bills look set to be mothballed by Highland Council.
Derek Yule, finance director, told councillors this week that nearly £2 million of savings they agreed when they set the 2015-16 budget in December may not be achieved.
At a fiery budget update meeting in Inverness, Mr Yule said drastic measures may need to be called upon to bring the local authority into budget this year. And this may include saving £1 million by leaving posts vacant unfilled.
The total value of savings which may not be achieved this year is £1.78 million. The council is still on track, however to achieve the rest of the savings totalling £12.9 million which councillors agreed to trim from the budget this year.
Mr Yule explained where the challenges lie. He said a decision by the council in December to save £35,000 from the members’ budget, which includes canteen meals during committee meetings, was "unlikely".
Very little savings have been achieved so far.
It may increase later in the year as members put their claims through "but it is unlikely to be anywhere near the target".
Plans to introduce a standard timetabling structure to save £150,000 are also unlikely to materialise.
Mr Yule’s report to committee says officials have now decided this would not be a feasible saving after considering the added costs of school transpor. Also under threat are plans to save £850,000 by renegotiating the council’s two PPP contracts. My Yule said discussions were still underway but did not look promising.
Mr Yule said that in addition, savings totalling £1.6 million were at risk due to the Scottish Government wanting to freeze teacher numbers. The government gave the council £460,000 earlier this year to help the council retain teachers.
Mr Yule said this leaves the council with a significant funding gap, which the service is working to manage.
Mr Yule said: ‘What officers are saying at the moment is some savings are unlikely to be delivered, some have challenges against them and officers are working on them some have slightly lesser challenged but there’s a question mark over the timing of those savings. Care and learning poses the biggest problem."
Opposition Liberal Democrat group leader David Alston said the committee needed to more clarity on why the savings could not be made.
"These were brought forward as serious savings. We need to know why they have not turned out to be deliverable," he said.
Councillors were concerned to hear that the axe may instead fall on vacancy management.
