More Moray Council budget cuts

MONEY-saving measures have been agreed by Moray Council in a bid to balance the 2019/20 budget.

Despite saving £43million over the last 10 years, Moray Council is predicting a £12million shortfall in income in the next financial year and will need to spend £4.8million from reserves during 2019/20 to meet spending requirements.

Yesterday councillors gave the green light to progress more than £5million of savings for next year, which could potentially see up to 136 job losses. A number of savings proposals will be consulted on before a final decision is taken by councillors.

Many internal savings will be implemented immediately including reducing fuel costs, reducing operational budgets and savings are also being made from the use of online services.

According to the local authority’s public relations team, others, including introducing a charge for the collection of garden waste, changing the opening hours of recycling centres, and increased commercialisation of the council’s leisure service, will take place during 2019/20.

Engagement with the public and community groups will take place to influence how a number of savings are taken forward; this includes reducing the opening hours at council Access Points, reducing the street sweeping service, closing Elgin Community Centre and reducing library opening hours.

Forres councillor, Lorna Creswell cannot recall "increased commercialisation of council leisure service" being mentioned at yesterday’s meeting, and questioned what it meant.

She said: "I would not want that as I see leisure connected with health, and it needs to be accessible to everyone.

"It was a very long meeting so colleagues may recall different points and interpret differently. We will need to continue discussions about all of our priorities and need to listen to ideas from our communities."

Cllr George Alexander confirmed no "concrete decisions" have been made yet.

He said: "While Elgin Community Centre was mentioned, Forres House was not. This is significant but in the present financial climate all options are open at this stage in the budget setting considerations."

Moray Council leader, cllr Graham Leadbitter, acknowledged the financial constraints the local authority is faced with but said continued investment is vital.

"We all know this won’t be easy and will be set in a context of continuing long-term financial constraints, which means that things will have to change and that some things will stop.

"Unfortunately this will lead to redundancies within our workforce, and we’re working with staff to support them through a consultation process.

"We’ll shortly be launching a programme of engagement so that community groups and residents can have their say on the savings proposals, and I urge everyone to take part so we can have an honest dialogue about the financial challenges we’re facing."

Read the full story and reaction in next week's print edition of the Gazette.