ARGYLL and Bute Council is almost into the final two weeks before it sets its budget for the 2026/27 financial year.
It will be the second budget to be set since the group of councillors now known as the administration partnership gained control of the authority in April 2024.
The group’s first budget, set in February 2025, saw a 9.9 per cent council tax rise implemented, after officials said that an 8.9 per cent increase would be needed to cover the budget gap.
The decision meant that a property in Band D of the council tax scale would face an annual bill of £1,625.
The Argyll, Lomond and Islands group of opposition councillors submitted the only amendment to the proposed budget, which would have seen a five per cent council tax increase.
The council had run a budget consultation among the public in planning its budget for 2025/26, receiving replies from 871 respondents and nearly 2000 comments.
Council leader Jim Lynch (SNP, Oban South and the Isles) also proposed increased funding for roads, and the area’s health and social care partnership (HSCP) when the council set last year’s budget on Thursday, February 27, 2025.
He said: “We have heard that roads are one of the most important priorities, and that is why we have increased the roads budget to £10m.
“We also hear from people how much they value health and social care. We also recognise that the HSCP must cope with challenges in rural and island areas.
“That is why we are providing an additional £1.2m to support the HSCP. This will help it to maintain services during financial challenges.”
He then said: “We have taken the difficult decision of raising council tax by 9.9 per cent. This was taken with much thought and after a lot of soul searching.
“But we have kept in mind how we are able to give back to communities. Seventy per cent of respondents [to the council’s budget survey] said they agreed or would consider agreeing to pay more for services that matter to them.”
Councillor Gary Mulvaney (Conservative, Helensburgh Central) said in moving the amendment: “We have just heard that after 12 years of preparation, challenges and straining to get into power, the headline of this is a shocking council tax increase that will have residents choking on their porridge in the morning.
“This is no ruse to get more money out of the Scottish Government; this is as real as it gets.
“Our group says that we do not accept the consensus. We believe there is another way and that council tax can be increased by five per cent – no higher.”
The administration partnership’s budget prevailed on a roll call vote by 22 votes to 10. Councillors Tommy MacPherson and Jennifer Kean (both Independent, South Kintyre) attended the meeting but registered no vote.
Councillors Douglas Philand (Independent, Mid Argyll) and Alastair Redman (Independent, Kintyre and the Islands) were not at the meeting.
Councillor Mulvaney stood down as leader of the council’s Conservative group later in the year, and was replaced in the role by Councillor Peter Wallace (Conservative, Isle of Bute).
While other political party changes have taken place in Argyll and Bute over the past year, the same 36 councillors will decide the area’s next budget on Wednesday, February 25.
