COUNCILLORS must be mindful of financial gaps when setting council tax for 2025/26 in Argyll and Bute, an official has warned.
Executive director Kirsty Flanagan was speaking after the leader of the authority’s opposition group questioned whether there was a need for a double figure council tax rise.
Shetland Islands Council has recently started a survey on a 10 per cent rise, while the possibility has also been raised in Perth and Kinross.
No cap on council tax was implemented as part of the Scottish Government’s budget when it was set on Wednesday, December 4.
But Councillor Gary Mulvaney (Conservative, Helensburgh Central) said: “What seems like Santa today could be the Grinch tomorrow.”
The discussion took place at a meeting of the council’s policy and resources committee on Thursday, December 5.
Ms Flanagan had previously said that extra funding being made available to local government could help Argyll and Bute Council with a projected £6.4 million budget gap in the mid-range scenario.
Councillor Mulvaney said: “We saw the announcement yesterday and Ms Flanagan is right to say that the devil is in the detail. What seems like Santa today could be the Grinch tomorrow.
“The thing probably interesting me the most was about the extra £1 billion. We just need to see how that works.
“The cabinet secretary’s [Shona Robison] view is also that this should not mean large increases in council tax. I wondered where Ms Flanagan sees that, because we have built in five per cent just now [in the mid-range budget scenario].
“There was discussion about potentially having double figure council tax rises in some local authorities, but does Ms Flanagan feel the need for higher rises has receded?”
Ms Flanagan responded: “Council tax is for members to consider how they would set it. There is no cap now, as the cabinet secretary announced.
“She is not looking for significant increases, and the inference as we understand it is that we don’t think we should be looking for double digits.
“But the cap has been removed, and the budget gap over a five-year period [in the mid-range scenario] is £27m.
“While we might have had a bit of a Christmas present, there is a significant gap in future years, and members must be mindful of that when setting the council tax level.
“We are also considering the building of a new school on Mull, and that will have a considerable cost and is not factored into the budget outlook as it is.
