Single Authority needed to counter funding crisis
Councillors have renewed calls for a Single Island Authority in the Western Isles, as they approved a stark medium-term financial plan, which projects a cumulative budget deficit of £26.5m by 2030.
The forecast was presented to the Comhairle’s policy and resources committee last week, when audit and resources lead, Sandy Gomez, outlined a range of assumptions, with the ‘best-case’ scenario showing a £26.5m deficit.
Mr Gomez’s report said the projections are based on the financial settlement the Comhairle receives from the Scottish Government, and detailed “how the council has seen the largest pro-rata reductions [of all local authorities in Scotland] in our revenue budget over the last ten years.”
The report concluded: “Future budget gaps will require to be offset using various approaches, including the identification of savings which will be progressed as part of the Council’s review of services, review of Council Tax and other income generating strategies, complimented by a Transformation Programme.”
He warned that “next steps would be to look at service delivery, especially discretionary services, and also council tax income, fees, and charges”.
A ‘Single Island Authority’ would bring together key local public services at present delivered by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Western Isles NHS Board and Hebridean Housing Partnership.
Councillor Angus McCormack argued that a Single Island Authority would represent “the best option” but warned: “We would have to agree with the government a significant increase in the budget … in order that we might have a good start to running things for the future.”
Comhairle chief executive, Malcolm Burr, stated: “The Comhairle is the most dependent authority in Scotland on the [the Scottish Government’s] funding floor, and that just shows how the funding formula does not meet the needs of this community”.
He called for a new funding arrangement representing, “a partnership of equals in the democratic sphere,” similar, Mr Burr stated, to the original funding concordat envisioned in the 1998 Scotland Act.
Cllr Norrie MacDonald raised concerns about the potential for the Scottish Government to use establishment of a Single Island Authority as a means of saving money, “so that overall the budget that’s delivered to the Western Isles is less than the combined sum of current budgets.”
The chief executive responded: “Change can be good, change can have unintended consequences. But the risk at the moment is that we all decline gently together, and that is the most dangerous thing for small authorities in small communities”.
In addition to the financial arguments, the Comhairle has advocated a Single Island Authority on grounds that it would “expand the democracy and accountability which is inherent in Local Government to include all services provided through the Single Authority or by other agencies with accountability to it”.