A PROPOSED consultation on budget savings options by Argyll and Bute Council is simply “ticking a box”, a Helensburgh community councillor has said.

Norman Muir, convener of Helensburgh Community Council, also said the town was perhaps “the largest cash cow” in the area as the local authority unveiled more than £4million worth of budget savings options for the next financial year.

School crossing patrol posts, which were saved last year after a petition among concerned parents, are once again under scrutiny, along with pupil support hours in primary schools. Between them, those two options account for 73 jobs.

The cost of a burial may rise by 20 per cent, with cremations becoming 15 per cent more expensive, should the proposed savings be enforced, while an increase of up to 20 per cent to parking charges is also among the ideas.

And the council’s head of strategic finance has warned that more than £1million of further savings will have to be found to meet the mid-range forecast budget gap for 2020/21.

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The authority’s policy and resources committee meets in Lochgilphead today (Thursday) to discuss the proposed savings.

A meeting of the full council will then follow, on the subject of putting the possible savings out to public consultation.

But Mr Muir said: “The idea of consulting on a subject without knowing ’cause and effect’ is simply going through the motions and ticking a box.

“For instance: ‘Argyll and Bute however has had the third highest cut to its council funding of all of Scotland’s authorities in recent years’ – why?

“There was recently an item of news to employ ‘stress consultants’ at some significant cost. These are illustrative of unexplained financial elements that need clarity.

“At a previous budget ‘consultation’ I asked for a financial briefing to assist. It did not materialise.

“It is time that Helensburgh, as perhaps the largest ‘cash cow’ in Argyll and Bute, was brought into the fold to at least brief the local community and help the process of good housekeeping.

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“All the expertise and knowledge on this subject is confined to the officers and councillors of Argyll and Bute Council and it appears that the council have already made their judgement.

“To the lay outsider there seems to be a distinct lack of rigour in the challenge of the whys and wherefores of the decisions that seem to have been made, never mind the unintended consequences.

“I do not minimise the situation but if they are to get the public on board to decide the fate of what is in effect public money then they should widen the consultation to include the public.”

Helensburgh Central councillor Aileen Morton, the council leader, admitted when the proposed cuts were revealed last Friday that there are “no easy options left” for making more savings.

Should it be given the go-ahead, the consultation is expected to run from the end of October until the beginning of December.

The policy and resources committee is then scheduled to meet again on Thursday, December 12, before the budget for 2020/21 is finalised in February.

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But Kirsty Flanagan, the authority’s head of strategic finance, said in a report for the two meetings on October 17 that a further £1.253m of savings will be needed to meet the mid-range budget scenario of a £5.736m budget gap for 2020/21.

Ms Flanagan said: “Based on the latest budget outlook, the savings identified for 2020/21 do not meet the latest mid-range gap by £1.253m. Officers will continue to identify further savings over the coming months to bridge the gap.

“The chief officers group met on two occasions during May to share ideas for future budget savings. These sessions were positive and a number of medium to longer term ideas were identified, however, there was a need to develop savings options for 2020/21.

“The chief officers group agreed that the best method of identifying options was to allocate a saving target to each service and the service would identify savings options to meet the target.

“Savings options have been identified by officers, considered by SMT [strategic management team] and discussed with the relevant policy lead.

“The savings options have been classified into management/operational options where there are no policy implications and will not result in any redundancies, and policy options, where there are either policy or staffing implications.

“For all options, including the management/operational savings options, it cannot be assumed that they will not have an impact on service delivery, however, the council has a duty to balance its budget.

“The savings options identified propose a potential reduction to the council’s staffing 58.5 FTE [full-time equivalent] within 2020- 21 should they all be accepted by members.

“The head of customer support services will take forward a statutory consultation process with the trade unions for those savings options that could have a direct impact on jobs.”

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