by DOUG COLLIE
Provisional allocations of Scottish Government funding for the country's 32 local authorities were being circulated as Scottish Borders Council invited the public to submit suggestions for next year's revenue expenditure, including how to trim £10 million from the outline budget for 2023/24.
The new municipal settlement for the next financial year is set out in a Local Government circular which will form the basis for consultation between government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities [COSLA] which represents the councils.
In the case of Scottish Borders Council, the table of figures estimates total expenditure of £308.765 million on local government services. The equivalent figure for 2022/23 was £309 million.
There is a noticeable difference under the heading Updated Service Provision; the figure quoted for 2023/24 is £279.6 million compared to £288.919 million in the current financial year.
Councils rely on the Scottish Government for about 80 per cent of their funding. Councillors in the Borders are responsible for a five-year revenue budget of around £1.7 billion and a 10-year capital budget of almost £550million.
The new circular shows SBC will require £11.915 million to cover advances from the Public Works Loans Board, and to cover the costs associated with Public Private Partnership (PPP) school building projects in Earlston, Duns and Eyemouth. Overall, loan charges cost the council £12.405 million in 2022/23.
The region's council taxpayers are expected to contribute £48.689 million to the overall budget (£48.476 million currently). And General Revenue Funding from the government is likely to be £208.152 million...a decrease from the 2022/23 figure of £210.218 million.
The comparative total revenue funding available to SBC is expected to be £260.076 million next year against £260.529 million this year.
Total capital grants in 2023/24 will be £23.983 million with a further £507,000 for developments linked to cycling and walking. In addition, a flooding allocation of £7.847 million will meet the cost of the Hawick Flood Protection Scheme.
The various sets of figures contained within the settlement circular will be analysed and discussed by senior officers and councillors before next year's SBC budget is finalised in February.
However, there is unlikely to be any political wrangling between the Conservative-led administration and the other groups represented on the council, including the Scottish National Party.
In a highly unusual move all of the groups have agreed to work together to produce a 'united' budget.
A news release issued by SBC has the following quote from its leader Councillor Euan Jardine: "“With every Borders household facing financial pressures this is no time for your local Councillors to be playing party politics and I am really pleased that our colleagues from across SBC’s political groups have joined together with the aim of developing a single budget proposal that we can all sign up to in February next year."
Meanwhile, Councillor Elaine Thornton-Nicol who leads the SNP 'opposition' declared: "The Council’s Administration has made a commitment to work with all the political groups and independent Councillors to develop a budget plan and I welcome that opportunity to collaborate on one of the areas that truly impacts on every person living and working here."
Last year's budget consultation elicited over 750 responses from local residents.
Anyone accessing the online consultation form this time round is told: "The current rate of inflation is also having a significant impact on the Council's finances, in the same way that it is affecting household budgeting, with the costs of items and materials rapidly rising. This impacts on project costs, such as building new schools, right through to the cost of day-to-day items, such as ingredients for school and care home catering."
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