Falkirk announces Scotland's biggest hike in council tax of 15.6%

Falkirk Council will increase council tax by 15.6% in order to save services after a tight vote.

The hike – the biggest so far out of Scotland’s 32 local authorities – will take Band D council tax in Falkirk to £1576.77, an increase of £4.09 per week.

The SNP administration was defeated as Independent councillor Laura Murtagh was backed by the Labour group and other Independents.

Councillor Murtagh said she knew members “were going to take an awful lot of abuse” for the increase but said she could not support several cuts to education without proper consultation.

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A nationwide freeze on the levy ends in April meaning local authorities can increase it by however much they like.

“I hate having to do this but it is the right thing to do,” she said. “I have done my best to get a budget worth voting for.”

Her budget also rejected £1 million of cuts to funded places in private nurseries, saying nurseries had not been consulted on this proposal.

Cllr Murtagh said: “I do feel physically ill to the pit of my stomach where we are having to make these impossibile decisions.

“We are going to take an awful lot of abuse over this budget and that isn’t acceptable but it is the reality.”

“We have a £33 million budget gap and we have a duty to bridge that gap.”

All of the budgets being presented today would have seen large increases in council tax as members agreed that the council has been at a below average level for many years.

Council across Scotland have been putting up council tax by the biggest mount in almost 20 years, and until today Orkney had brought in the largest increase at 15%.

The Labour group leader Councillor Anne Hannah laid the blame firmly at the door of the Scottish Government for not passing on funding to councils.

The group initially proposed their own budget, which would have seen an increase of 15.2 per cent but were persuaded to support Cllr Murtagh.

Cllr Hannah said the increase would be £4.09 a week and even with that rise they would stay outside the top ten of councils.

“I know for some that is a lot of money and I do find it difficult to put forward this proposal but if we are going to try to improve things for the people of Falkirk we need additional funding,” she said.

The Labour group also refused to accept an increase in brown bin charges and there will be no rise in crematorium charges.

The budget also rejected a cut to the Independent Learning Service, which is a service for pupils that cannot attend mainstream schools.

However, the £25 charge to pupils attending instrumental music lessons will go ahead although pupils from low income families will be protected.

The SNP group leader Cecil Meiklejohn said it was “really disappointing” not to get any consensus for the administration’s budget, which she felt was very close to the final agreement.

She said the Scottish Government had been forced to mitigate many decisions by the UK Government over the years and also strongly criticised the Labour policy of PFI schools which has also cost millions.

Cllr Meiklejohn said the SNP had attempted to take a “prudent and practical” approach and said this was another example of the council “not wanting to take difficult decisions”.

“While they may not have been perfect there was a whole host of information there that could have allowed a decision to be made,” she said.

The Conservative group proposed a 10 per cent rise in council tax saying it was “far from ideal” but was necessary for the tough financial situation the council was in.

They dubbed the final result “a political shambles”.

Councillor James Bundy said: “This political shambles means Falkirk families are now facing a crushing tax hike thanks to Labour and the independents, while the SNP have proven themselves incapable of running the council.”