Highland Council Budget 2022-3
Working with the Administration to agree a "joint, collaborative budget"
Highland Council agreed its budget for 2022-3 yesterday and this year the SNP group worked together with the ruling group to agree a joint, collaborative budget which will result in a below inflation council tax rise of 3%.
One of our current councillors, Emma Knox, has made a long post to various places explaining what’s been agreed and I think it’s worth recording here in its entirety as this will affect us all. So what follows is from her …
The people of the Highlands expect us to work together in their best interests especially in these difficult times, so the SNP Group worked with the Administration to agree a "joint, collaborative budget".
Overall Settlement
The Budget Papers highlight that with a flat cash settlement plus the additional £5.4m Scottish Government one off cash grant the total Scottish Government settlement provides “AN OVERALL INCREASE OF £1.5M IN THE COUNCIL’S CORE FUNDING”.
In addition to the core funding settlement, Scot Govt has provided:
£24.8m ring-fenced funding for social care of (£17.1m new & £7.7m recurring)
£6.5m ring-fenced funding for education of (£0.9m new & £5.6m recurring)
In addition to the core funding settlement, Scot Govt is funding:
free school meals
music tuition
curricular charges
child bridging payments
Forward looking & transformative budget built on SNP proposals for income generation. Invest & spend on innovative projects to create sustainable income streams that enable us to maintain essential services and close the £34.1m budget gap.
Investments
We have identified £25m of investments including:
Rural Transport £500k
Economic Prosperity Fund £6m
Place Based Investment £2.3m
Poverty Strategy £300k
Green Energy Hub £2.8m
Visitor Management Strategy £1.5m
Community Loans Fund £1m
Education
We protected ring-fenced PEF & SAC money. Highland Schools get to keep £750k of crucial money that could have been allocated elsewhere under full cost recovery arrangements – BIG win for our most disadvantaged young people.
ie Full cost recovery mechanism risked £750k ring-fenced Scottish Govt Pupil Equity Fund & Scottish Attainment Challenge money being absorbed into the general HC budget = £750k schools money potentially allocated elsewhere
SNP protected:
Devolved School Management budget - Head teachers retain essential spending power in their schools
ASN staffing levels - SNP budget negotiations ensured that there will be no ASN cuts
SNP protected:
Commissioned Children's Services – no cuts to all but one of our 3rd sector education partners
School nurse provision
Education Innovation
Income generation opportunities including THC’s ground-breaking virtual academy & Dingwall Academy's award winning BLS teaching materials
Working with orgs like The Wood foundation to support training & learning
Roads
£10m this year, £10m next year, £5.5m recurring
Immediate improvements
Invest in materials, plant, workforce
20 new jobs – less reliance on seasonal staff
Fully costed ongoing maintenance programme that’s fit for purpose
Cllr Bremner, Opposition Leader: "Our roads were allowed to get into this state because of repeated underspend in previous years"
Unprecedented roads provision in this budget £10m this year, £10m next year, £5.5m recurring.
Rural Transport
Cllr Bremner, Opposition Leader, reiterated the £500k allocated to Rural Transport to borrow and invest in local solutions that work for local communities, reducing the reliance on profit driven national companies.
Make our RESERVES work for us
Earmarked reserves down to just under 2% - invest and spend to save instead of making operational savings (cuts)
Protecting front line services
Avoiding staff redundancies – better ways of working
Use reserves to invest in a green economy
Hydrogen production across the Highlands connected by rail and harbour infrastructure
Rural transport – local solutions that work for remote & rural communities – break the national coach companies’ monopoly
Council Tax
Inflation busting Council Tax rise – restricted to 3% (less than inflation)
Help pay for immediate improvements to the roads network and a fully costed ongoing roads maintenance programme that’s fit for purpose
Invest in projects to generate income to mitigate against future tax rises
Hydrogen generation, rural transport, community loans fund, poverty strategy