Cut councillors' salaries not class time, say Independents
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HIGHLAND councillors could opt to take a cut in their extra salary enhancements and agree to reduce their catering budget to save other services from the axe.
A £1 million "carbon clever" budget for green initiatives such as LED street lights and cycle paths could also be slashed.
The suggestions are on a list of alternative budget cut proposals published by the council’s opposition Independent group this morning (Monday).
The group will put the ideas forward on Thursday when the council meets to set the budget for 2015-16.
The administration has already drawn up its budget, outlining savings of £17.9 million.
Deputy leader Jaci Douglas said in addition to councillor salary cuts and a reduction in the catering budget, money could be saved by cutting the council’s use of colour photocopying and reducing the current £1 million in the Community Challenge Fund, which helps local groups who wish to run council services in their area.
The three Independent councillors who receive enhancements to their pay propose voluntarily cuts matching the savings that the council has been asked to find over the next four years, which are 4%, followed by three years of 1%.
Councillor Douglas said: "Because there are only a small number of Independents who get extra salary the amount this step raises will not be huge, but every penny counts. If the administration’s senior councillors were to join in this voluntary reduction we could offset cuts to small but important services such as support to foster carers – we think this is a much better use of the public purse."
She added: "By prioritising and recognising what is important we have managed to find enough money to protect services that otherwise would have been cut and which people told us are vital to the Highlands.
"These include the cut to secondary teachers, cuts to winter gritting including the loss of 12 gritters, cutting tourism services such as regional information centres, community run toilets, car parking and ranger service, cuts to fostering and adoption, cutting cleaning staff and reducing the standards and quality of school meals."
Cllr Carolyn Wilson, leader of the opposition, said: "We have come up with some common sense, good-housekeeping alternatives that keep the services people say are important to them in their communities.
"We certainly hope the SNP/LibDem/Labour administration will agree that there is a better way to make savings rather than cutting teacher numbers or stopping gritting our roads."
