Council warning on cuts and redundancies 2/9/10
The level of heavy cuts in council services and jobs may be better known by the end of this month.
Over the next two weeks councillors will focus on where the axe would fall in order to slash budgets by £24 million over the coming four years.
Many cuts will be identified by councillors at a seminar held behind closed doors.
Overall, spending plans would be hacked by about 20% to tackle a drastic fall in funding from central government.
After the council has earmarked cuts and potential redundancies it will hold a series of meetings this month and next where the local authority says it will consult with islanders.
But the public meetings may be little more than an information forum, taking place well down the process, where the council can plead its case.
Some cash saving proposals have already kicked off with some teachers taking an early retirement option before the summer. Staff in the authority’s technical services department were also canvassed for redundancy in Spring.
Comhairle Leader Angus Campbell said: “The recent visit by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, emphasised the challenging times that lie ahead for the public sector, although we are not yet clear of the detail.
“However, it is obvious that the Comhairle will have to take difficult decisions which will reflect spending choices. To that end we intend to hold a series of consultation meetings throughout the Islands and a timetable for these will be made available soon.
“The Comhairle recognises the importance of local authority jobs to the local economy and as well as continuing to argue for the retention of local service delivery will, as far as possible, seek to preserve employment although we are looking at voluntary retirements and redundancies.
“It is important that our choices are as fully informed as possible and that our budgets are set in a planned manner to allow us to continue to provide the best quality and best value services that we can, given the reduction in resources we are likely to face.”