No Council Tax rise, say SNP CouncillorsIsland residents should not face a Council Tax rise while it sits on large underspends say the SNP Group at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar who are making efforts this week to prevent the planned increase.As part of the Budget Setting process at this week's meetings, Councillors are being asked to approve the proposal to increase Council Tax by nearly five percent.The SNP Group say the Council Tax increase will cause financial pain to island families and instead they propose that the current level is retained for the 2020/21 financial year.To meet the financial implications of retaining the current level, they propose that the Comhairle uses £3.1m of balances and £880,000 of reserves with the level of retained reserves being set at £2.62m.SNP Group Leader Gordon Murray said: “we do not think it is right to ask families to pay more when the council have underspent their budgets and are sitting on large reserves.. “
The SNP Group are also proposing an additional £80,000 is made available to the Integration Joint Board (IJB) for the purpose of providing dental services at Sacred Heart Care Home, Daliburgh, South Uist. In the event that the IJB do not to agree to provide dental services at Daliburgh that the allocation be retained by the Comhairle.In addition they are proposing that at additional £100,000 is made available to the IJB to provide funding support to Bethesda Hospice. If IJB do not agree to provide funding to Bethesda Hospice that the funding allocation be retained by the Comhairle.
“I hope this amendment will get support from other councillors rather than hitting our communities with another maximum council tax rise which is unfair. Giving support in resources to Bethesda hospice and dental services in South Uist is hugely important to the group and the communities across the islands.”
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