https://edinburgh.budgetsimulator.com/
Gives quite few options for raising revenue and 'streamlining' service provision. Includes raising Council Tax and parking charges...
Go on, you know you want to...
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
Edinburgh's Budget Challenge - have your say
(30 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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I tried it, and don't envy the Councillors...
Robert
Posted 8 years ago # -
"Among the big gainers in the new plans are cyclists, with 9 per cent of net capital and revenue expenditure set to be spent on boosting routes, surfaces and other infrastructure for those who travel on bikes."
Of course the motorists who get 91% of said capital and revenue expenditure aren't gaining at all from it.
"Additional savings will also be generated through reducing the number of vehicles operated by the city and selling buildings and other properties deemed surplus to requirements."
I wonder what vehicles they will be getting rid off and whether it is truly a reduction of just a transfer to contractors.
Posted 8 years ago # -
RESIDENTS in high-value properties across the Capital face being hit with a “mansion tax” under plans aimed at helping cash-strapped city leaders balance the books.
Senior figures in Edinburgh’s joint SNP-Labour administration have unveiled proposals which could see council tax bands “decoupled” so larger levies can be introduced for more expensive homes.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"which could see council tax bands “decoupled” so larger levies can be introduced for more expensive homes."
Well you would have thought the ScotGov would have been more interested in revising bands (or at least 'allowing' councils to, so SG didn't get the blame...)
'Simple' way for LAs to get more money while keeping the CT 'freeze'.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Among the big gainers in the new plans are cyclists, with 9 per cent of net capital and revenue expenditure
So that means cyclists are getting 9% of the entire council budget, or £88m of £975m?
Or just more garbage reporting from EEN?
Posted 8 years ago # -
All council taxes are frozen, but some council taxes are more frozen than others?
Posted 8 years ago # -
It will be increasing to 10% the following year.
Posted 8 years ago # -
@edd1e_h that means cyclists are getting 9% of the entire council budget
EEN error I think, as it's 9% (10% next year, all being well!) of the Council's expenditure on transport, both in terms of building and maintaining (including gritting, clearing, etc), which is why the revenue bit is important.
Robert
Posted 8 years ago # -
Surely I'd press that properties are not sold but leased, through an arms length company wholly owned by CEC.
Not sure if CEC has followed the route of D&G, and moved staff travel to car club, hired vehicles and ride sharing.
Perhaps pressing for Section 19 (parking/driving HGV on footways) and Section 137 (obstruction of traffic (including traffic on foot) to be decriminalised and enforceable by Edinburgh's parking attendants, who I'd hope will go about this with their established zeal.
The other option might be to review the roads across Edinburgh and establish which parts are not required for the statutory function of moving traffic around. Most of the parts not required will be on land owned by the frontagers, and there may well be opportunities to cease maintaining the road surface and hand the land back to the owners (of the road solum).
Complaints that they are not getting a parking place may for many then be addressed by saying. To get best value your Council is only maintaining the roads we need for moving traffic. If you are lucky you may get back a bit of road that you actually own, and it will be up to you to have a regime that keeps it reserved for any use you want to make of it with measures which we can agree as appropriate. If you haven't any land for parking that you own , you are then free to negotiate with other owners for land adjacent to our roads which they may agree to rent or sell to you.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"There has to be particular campaigning for the pot of money from central government to be expanded.
“Instead of contracting, it has to rise. We live in one of the richest societies in the world. Are we saying we cannot provide services for the elderly? It’s just unacceptable."
How can it be expanded when the central government have to pay for all that new tarmac.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Have they just changed the headline or has the body of the article changed too?
Posted 8 years ago # -
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CITY leader Andrew Burns has accused Finance Secretary John Swinney of holding “a shotgun at my head” over council funding.
In the latest sign of an escalating row, he said a threat to claw back money unless councils deliver a local tax freeze was a “democratic disgrace”.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
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CITY council chiefs have been praised in an Audit Scotland report for “a willingness to make difficult decisions and reduce services”
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Great relief to one and all(?)
Posted 8 years ago # -
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Andrew Kerr, who is overseeing a wide-ranging cost-cutting programme within the authority, believes the city has been left with no option but to pursue some form of tourist tax.
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Posted 8 years ago # -
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When long-standing, good-quality projects are gazumped by smooth-talking national organisations it cannot be right that form-filling wins over quality local projects serving all our communities.
Cammy Day
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Posted 8 years ago # -
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THE finance watchdog for local councils is backing Edinburgh’s plans to balance the city budget, says Andrew Burns
I’ve a shocking revelation to make – not everything at the City of Edinburgh Council is perfect; sometimes mistakes are made; and things do indeed go wrong.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
They could always close the roads near every school during entry/exit times instead of having a lollipop patrol.
Everyone's a winner!
Imagine the EEN FROTH BAARGH on that!
Posted 8 years ago # -
So there is to be a review of services and this automatically equates to lollipop persons "facing the chop"? Non-story.
Posted 8 years ago # -
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AROUND 500 staff have agreed to leave the city council as part of a major restructure – a quarter of the total needed to hit a cost-cutting target.
Union leaders said the latest figure was a sign the council’s redundancy process is beginning to accelerate, amid a wider drive to find at least £148 million in savings over the next four years.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
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And last week, the News revealed city leaders will splash out £62,000 on consultants to review the Capital’s popular lollipop patrols, raising concerns the service could be slashed just months after it was saved from the chop.
Green MSP Alison Johnstone said she was “increasingly worried” about “the early signs of a hollowed-out council – one that has lost too many experienced staff too quickly and is then having to scrabble around to pay consultants at two or three times the rate to do the same job”.
She added: “If the council is serious about driving down consultant costs by £2 million next year, it needs to look long and hard at the number of staff it is losing.
“To be frank, if a staff member is so vital as to be needed as a consultant, the council should be retaining him or her as a staff member in the first place.
“I don’t want hollowed-out councils where we pay through the nose for consultancy fees. And nor, I believe, do people who use public services.”
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Posted 8 years ago # -
Another year already -
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Demand for council services has been increasing year-on-year but our annual income has not kept pace. We all know what a great place Edinburgh is to live and work in but our population is growing and the cost of providing services to the increasing numbers of young and older people, in particular, is constantly rising. We are also facing inflationary pressures and so with all of this in mind it is vital that we ensure our resources are spent as wisely and fairly as possible.
In previous budget engagements you told us to protect education, care for older people, culture, and services for vulnerable children and adults. These continue to be our priorities.
Last year we agreed draft spending and saving plans for the next three years and last week we launched a seven-week engagement campaign to ask residents through a variety of forums for their views on how best to change the delivery of some services.
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Posted 7 years ago #
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