South Lanarkshire freeze council tax for third year

Feb 18 2010 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

SOUTH Lanarkshire’s 141,000 households will pay no additional Council Tax or water charges next financial year.

South Lanarkshire Council agreed last Thursday to freeze Council Tax for the third year in a row.

Scottish Water announced in December that there would be no rise in household water and waste water bills in Scotland for 2010-11 .

Those decisions mean Band D Council Tax-payers will continue to pay £1495 a year for council services and water.

Properties in Band A will attract a charge of £996 and Band B households face a £1162 levy.

The council unanimously approved a £725m budget for the forthcoming financial year having made cash cuts of £17½m and axed 140 middle managers.

Council leader Eddie McAvoy said the local authority were not immune from the consequences of the banks’ collapse.

That had led to a reduction in the funds available to Government and councils.

He added that efficiency savings plus an unexpected cash windfall, arising from funding of the secondary schools modernisation, had resulted in many projects being saved.

Councillor McAvoy said the schools upgrade and HomeHappening programme would continue as planned.

Referring to the £17½m cuts programme, councillor McAvoy said some initiatives, such £50 Spring bonus paid to 42,000 OAPs, would have to be scrapped.

Others, such as the supply of free fruit and water to primary schools, would be scaled down.

The Council Leader added: “We introduced a raft of capital projects and non-statutory initiatives.

“These were services we were not duty bound to provide.

“Some of them have now had to be curtailed but we have done so without damaging education, social work, our multi-million pound roads programme, our services for older people, or our support for the local economy.”

“To put it in context,” said Councillor McAvoy, “our chief executive, Archie Strang, who has worked in local government for 35 years, said the country’s economic crisis had led to the biggest cut in council funding he has ever known.

“But by working together within the council and despite having had to make £17.5million of savings we have been able to take steps not only to protect front-line services, but to allow us to continue to make progress with our key priorities.”