South Lanarkshire Council votes to freeze tax

South Lanarkshire council has become the latest local authority to agree to freeze council tax.

Councillors also approved £13.19m of savings with £1.8m coming from the roads budget.

During their annual budget they voted against a proposal to cut 44 teaching jobs.

Councillors said some “truly awful and painful” decisions had to be made.

Council leader Joe Fagan, of Scottish Labour, said councillors had no option but to accept cuts put forward because "local authorities across Scotland have been hit by a squeeze on the funding" they get from Holyrood to deliver services.

Scotland's 32 councils have been offered compensation from the Scottish government if they adopt the SNP's policy to freeze council tax.

Mr Fagan said he agreed with Cosla, the umbrella body for local governments in Scotland, that the freeze was not being fully funded by the government.

However, he felt the council had "no choice" but to accept the freeze.

He said: "Everybody needs to understand that this budget was only balanced because we were forced to take some truly awful and painful decisions.

“This is because the Scottish government is not providing fair funding for councils – and every indication is that this situation will continue. So even more awful decisions are likely to be needed in the years ahead.”

South Lanarkshire joins a host of other councils including Glasgow, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and the Western Isles who have also implemented the freeze.

The meeting was told savings were required across almost every part of the council's work.

Plans also include a 20p increase in secondary school meals which will save £1770,000 and savings of £750,000 will be made from leisure and culture budgets.

Other savings proposals including new parking charges at local attractions, a reduction in grass-cutting, and cuts to council support for Christmas events were rejected.

The current debate about whether councils will raise or freeze council tax has its roots in the SNP conference in October 2023.

First Minister Humza Yousaf announced a freeze in tax during his closing speech in Aberdeen, to the surprise of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).

The Scottish government had previously proposed raising council tax rates by as much as 22.5% for homes in higher bands.

But Mr Yousaf said they would remain at current levels when councils set their budgets for 2024-25. He said this was the SNP “delivering for people when they need it most".

Council funding is complex. The council tax generates about 13% of local government funding, with most of the rest of their cash coming from Holyrood.

The levy has either been frozen or capped at 3% since the SNP came to power in 2007, with the Scottish government providing local authorities with extra funding in return.

But councils have been allowed to use new powers to set their own rates for the past two years, with most areas seeing rises of between 4% and 7% this year.

Mr Yousaf has said the government will make up the budgetary shortfall for councils who would have raised taxes.