Council to make £ 3.1 million cuts and savings 14/12/11
Western Isles Council faces making £3.1 million of cuts and savings next year.
Compulsory redundancies and savage cuts in some services are likely to try and stem the crisis. The council does not have a policy to avoid compulsory payoffs and departmental restructuring and job merging has recently seen many workers leaving involuntary.
Some 55 council staff have already left their jobs this year on top of the 72 made redundant in 2010. It means the council workforce fallen by around 5% since last year and is now estimated to be about 2440 people.
Stricter employment conditions will be imposed on remaining staff in a bid to tackle the cash worries.
The local authority will effectively receive about £2.2 million less funding from the Scottish Government this year which is better than expected.
But, in a set of seminars this week, councillors are being warned that this is compounded
by the need to find an additional an extra £1 million to include inflation plus additional
expenditure for local elections, caring for the aging population, health, social
care, and pre-
The top line £3.5 deficit may be reduced by £1 million by delivering services more cost effectively.
But it leaves councillors having to decide on a further £2.1 million of cuts across the board. The position is more difficult after paring £5 million off most services last year.
The council is now examining implementing savings out of services it is not legally required to deliver.
A series of public meetings in island communities will be conducted before final decisions are made.
Though there said it would look at reducing the number of subsidised off-
Axing Barra’s lifeline flights to Benbecula to save over £200,000 annually is one of the most controversial possibilities on the table.
Operator Lognanair has taken a temporary cut in subsidy but many islanders warned it would affect hospital patients as well as seamen and offshore oil workers who need to travel off the island.
The authority may consider introducing frozen food for reheating for frail pensioners requiring a cooked meal service, despite a huge outcry after a pilot scheme in 2007.
Cuts are also being explored in grants to voluntary groups, economic development, sport, libraries and public toilets.
The number of councillors may also be voluntary slashed by a third though this can not be implemented by the forthcoming elections in May.
Last month Unison union representative Flora Somerville highlighted that targeting
pre-
There was a hint the council is controversially considering introducing frozen food for reheating for frail pensioners requiring a cooked meal service, despite a huge outcry after a pilot scheme in 2007.
In a budget strategy report council finance boss Robert Emmott said that savings were being looked for in housing, education, waste services; property costs and roads, social and community services; and councillors’ expenses if substantial savings could be made with a minimal impact on services and as far as possible, avoid compulsory redundancies.