Fife Council leaders Q&A

Fife Today

Danyel VanReenen, Local Democracy Reporter, speaks to the party leaders on the key issues facing Fife's budgets in 2024

Transcript

00:00 For the first time since Holyrood announced its pay package for local governments in December,

00:07 Fife Council party leaders sat down to discuss the upcoming 2024 budget.

00:12 There are no promises being made for future years, but Fife Council services appear to

00:16 be safe from cuts for 2024.

00:18 What we know is it's very likely, as far as I'm concerned, Fife Council will have a council

00:24 tax freeze and a balanced budget that will not have any cuts, just like the last four

00:31 years.

00:32 Well at the moment there isn't an awful lot of spare money to make investments in other

00:40 things, so we'll have to work through that.

00:44 Again, I think as David said, and I think we're all agreed, we think we can get through

00:49 this year without making significant cuts in our current services, but just keeping

00:55 things running is a challenge without investing in new things, and there are a whole range

01:03 of pressures I think that we've got.

01:06 However, Fifers may see a 3% increase in charges for fees and services after the budget is

01:11 set.

01:12 It's a decision to be taken at the budget, and we'll come to that.

01:17 At the moment our planning assumption is a 3% increase, but that may well change.

01:23 I would want to see what particular items they're putting an increase on, like they

01:29 did last year, funerals, cremations.

01:32 I find that difficult right now.

01:36 We could get by with a freeze on them as well, according to statistics.

01:43 I think we have got to stop taking money out of people's pockets for this year, and try

01:49 to face up to this cost of living crisis and help people out there.

01:53 Next year might be different, the year after, but let's sort it out this year, let's help

01:57 people out there.

01:58 We'll probably be saying the same next year as well.

02:03 You have to take a responsible position in ensuring that we are getting the funding to

02:08 continue our services.

02:10 Fees and charges, there are some that we choose not to put up, there are others we feel it's

02:16 quite legitimate to put up.

02:18 At the moment, assuming a 3% increase, we'd bring in something like £800,000.

02:27 In the bigger scheme of things, we could live without that, but it would mean taking that

02:33 money from somewhere else.

02:34 So it's those kind of decisions we'll have to take at the budget time.

02:39 And unfortunately you can't just pretend that the things going on in the outside world,

02:43 inflation etc, aren't happening.

02:45 So David says we could potentially find that money somewhere else, or more likely the services

02:52 themselves would suffer, and no one would want to see that.

02:59 Councillor Ross is at the head of a minority administration, meaning he will rely on other

03:03 parties such as the Lib Dems and Conservatives to support his version of the budget.

03:09 Last year, the Labour budget went toe to toe with the SNP party's proposed budget.

03:14 Labour's budget was approved with support from both the Lib Dem and Conservative party

03:18 groups.

03:19 Conservative party leader Kathleen Leslie emphasised that Labour will once again need

03:23 her party's support to get the budget approved.

03:25 Well we're keen to hear what the administration is saying and obviously putting forward some

03:32 of the suggestions that we've got, because like I said they will need our support to

03:35 get their budget through.

03:37 That support will depend on what they are offering.

03:42 Fife Council's party leaders largely disagreed on where to place the blame for the money

03:47 problems facing Fife and other local authorities this year.

03:50 For Councillor Alexander and the SNP party, the blame lies with the UK government in Westminster.

03:55 For the other parties, the Scottish government is responsible for the problem facing local

04:00 governments.

04:01 Regardless of where the blame lies, all party leaders agreed that Fife finances are under

04:06 pressure.

04:07 The ongoing cost of living crisis is undoubtedly putting pressure on council finances, but

04:13 party leaders also agreed that it's impacting the people living in Fife.

04:17 Councillor Alexander explained that the council is in a tough position.

04:21 We could get more money, we could try to ask for more money from the people out there to

04:33 do more things, but then you come straight bang head first against the cost of living

04:38 crisis.

04:39 That's the issue we've got.

04:40 The cost of living crisis is hurting a lot of people out there.

04:44 Yeah, it's great to spend the money, but it comes at a cost to people out there, and that

04:49 is the balance we've got to make.

Category

Transcript

Recommended