The Highland Council budget

In the summer of 2008 the Highland Lib Dems became part of the ruling Administration of The Highland Council. Since then I have been Budget Leader, responsible for leading the process of setting the Council’s budget. Like any household, we have to balance our expenditure with the income we receive.

I am delighted that we can propose a 'no cuts' budget for 2012/13, with extra money for road repairs and key Council services.

We are able to do this because we have managed the Councils finances well. In 2008 we recognised the financial challenges that the Council would face and so we set about planning a three-year budget for the years 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13. We knew this was a difficult task, which would mean finding savings of £59m, and that this would involve some tough choices.

We consulted widely and there has been more involvement of the public than ever before in the process. In 2010 we established a ‘citizens panel’ of 2300 volunteers who were willing to comment on our proposals, held over 20 meetings across Highland, some of which attracted hundreds of local people, and ran an on-line budget blog. More importantly, we have listened to what we heard during that consultation.

Our budget, agreed on the 10th of February 2011, not only set a balanced budget for 2011/12 but also balanced the budget for 2012/13. It was based on our principles of protecting communities and vulnerable groups, expecting everyone to bear their fair share of cuts, and making the Council as efficient and productive as possible. As a result there were:

• no cuts in winter maintenance or annual road maintenance budgets
• no closures of libraries, swimming pools, museums or leisure centres
• no cuts in the number of youth workers
• more recycling and less unnecessary light pollution from street lights
• protection of services for vulnerable groups including those with additional support needs, mental health problems, children at risk and the frail elderly
• no further widespread cuts in grants for voluntary organisations active in our communities
• continued increases in budgets for social care, especially for older people
• a capital programme of over £60m each year, helping to support the construction sector of the Highland economy

How have we done this? The answer is that we have been prepared to make some tough decisions. We have:

• made large savings in management costs
• increased fees and charges for those able to pay
• begun the most radical integration of health and social care services anywhere in Scotland
• rationalised the number of service points, while allowing the public to make payments to the Council at any post office and at an additional 300 ‘pay points’
• expected all parts of the Council to take there fair share of cuts

The tough decisions have also included accepting a competitive bid from the private sector for grass cutting in parts of Highland (while keeping the service ‘in house’ in other areas); reducing the budget managed by head-teachers in secondary schools by 2.6% (but allowing them to make decisions locally as to how to best manage their budgets); and cutting hours of opening in libraries and elsewhere.

We have shown that we are prepared to face up to the problems facing our area, take responsibility and stick with the people of the Highlands through these difficult times.