Council tax likely to be frozen for 2009/10

Local authorities across the north and north-east are aiming to freeze council tax for the second successive year, the Press and Journal can reveal.

Council leaders last night confirmed they plan to back the key Scottish Government policy, despite many authorities facing big budget cuts.

But Finance Minister John Swinney was accused of denying them any alternative after offering a £70million package to councils which agree to the freeze.

Councils in Aberdeen, Dundee, Highland, Perth and Kinross, Moray, Argyll and Bute, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles have indicated they will freeze the tax when they meet to agree their final budgets next month.

Aberdeenshire and Angus councils were yesterday unable to say whether or not a freeze was intended.

The majority of Scottish councils are expected to continue the cap, seen as the first step in the government’s plans to replace the council tax with a local income tax.

Under the £70million deal, Aberdeen would get £3.3million, Aberdeenshire £3.5million, Highland £3.2million and Moray £1.1million.

Aberdeen City Council’s depute leader Kevin Stewart said it would make “every effort” to continue the tax freeze, despite having to slash £60million from spending on services over two years.

He said: “It would be rather silly of us to do anything in terms of raising these taxes because we would lose out on £3.3million, which would mean we have to raise council tax by an average of £40.”

A spokesman for Moray Council said: “This will have to be discussed by the relevant committees and voted on but it is certainly the plan that council tax will be frozen in Moray.”

Highland Council, which faces around £16million of budget cuts this year, is also likely to adopt the freeze.

Budget leader David Alston said: “There is no choice. If any council didn’t freeze council tax they would lose money.

“I think councils have been put in the position where it does not make sense not to.

“This year is a hard budget and it’s exactly the type of situation where we could ease some of our difficulties if we were able to raise council tax in line with inflation.”

Kevin Keenan, leader of Dundee City Council’s ruling Labour-Lib Dem group, said: “We are working towards a zero increase in council tax in Dundee, although there are still savings to be found in the budget.”

A spokeswoman for Perth and Kinross Council said: “We are reviewing the provisional budget for 2009/10. However, it is our intention to maintain the freeze on council tax.”

Orkney Islands Council convener Stephen Hagan also said it has no other option.

“My understanding is that the Cabinet secretary is going to hold a gun to everyone’s heads again, so it’s most likely Orkney will go for a freeze,” he said.

And an Argyll and Bute Council spokesman said: “We are working towards a council tax freeze. However, we cannot say for certain as the budget briefing is still to take place.”

Shetland Islands Council convener Sandy Cluness said: “I think it is definitely likely that we will be following with the majority of councils and freezing the council tax for another year.

“I haven’t been made aware of any in Shetland that oppose this and I think the freeze is something the local community would welcome.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said the move would give councils more flexibility.

He added: “It is thanks to our new equal relationship with councils, and additional financial support from the Scottish Government, that councils were able last year to put extra cash directly into the pockets of hard-pressed taxpayers by freezing or cutting council tax.

“While we work to abolish the unfair council tax, we have again made an extra £70million available to cover the cost of a continuation of the council tax freeze.

“We hope all councils will agree again to freeze council tax which will keep more money in people’s pockets and provide further much-needed support to those households most in need.”

Tory finance spokesman MSP Derek Brownlee said: “I think the freeze is a sensible thing to do and it will be welcomed by Scotland’s hard-pushed families during these extremely tough economic times.”

But North-East Labour MSP Richard Baker claimed the £70million government package was not enough to make the freeze viable.

He said: “Services are going to suffer greatly because the government is not offering enough money for this to work. Alex Salmond and John Swinney should be apologising for the offer which will go on to have a hugely negative impact.”