Major cuts to jobs and services
David O'Leary • Published 21 May 2010 12:26
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Council leader David Parker
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HUNDREDS of jobs are likely to go at Scottish Borders Council as nationwide cuts rip through the public sector.
And many frontline services also face an uncertain future.
The doom and gloom message was spelled out yesterday (Thursday) as members of the local authority were presented with predicted funding gap figures for the next three financial years.
Accountants at Newtown St Boswells have calculated a worst case scenario that would see a shortfall of over £22 million for the 36 months.
Even the brightest predictions suggest that almost £12 million will be shaved of the cashflow from the Scottish Government up to April 2014.
Leader David Parker told members: "The country has a significant debt mountain and is running services with borrowed money - this simply can't go on.
"The scale of the challenge is more significant than I've seen in my 13 years in local government.
"Over the next three years there is no doubt that this (SBC) will be a smaller organisation that won't be able to offer the same services."
Mr Parker also took a swipe at the Scottish Government's approach to put off any major cuts until next year.
He added: "There needs to be some rethinking from the Scottish Government. We can either face up to these challenges or bury our head in the sand like finance minister John Swinney is doing."
Published forecasts by the local authority's finance team show massive cuts to both the capital and revenue budgets.
Deputy leader and finance spokesman Neil Calvert believes it is essential to have a plan of action to tackle the deficit.
He told the meeting: "We want to highlight the magnitude of the problems that lie ahead."
Questions were asked about the number of posts that would go because of the cash crisis.
And business spokeswoman Vicky Davidson warned that council redundancies would lead to further job losses all across the Borders.
She said: "At Caerlee in Innerleithen there was a loss of 136 jobs recently - it is estimated that this will result in the loss of a further 56 jobs in the community.
"Any jobs lost because of these cuts will have a knock-on effect and we have to take this into account when we plan for the times ahead."
It is expected that national incentives such as free personal care, free transport for the elderly and planned free prescriptions will all suffer over the coming years.
And council tax will face above inflation hikes as local authorities across the country try to balance the books.
Councillor Michael Cook said: "Efficiencies alone won't be enough.
"Nobody at this juncture can answer how many jobs will be lost, but we do have to plan ahead.
"We all have a responsibility to recognise the pressures we face."
This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 21 May 10
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