INVERCLYDE Council has set its budget and Council Tax for 2025/26.

At a special full council meeting this afternoon, Thursday 6 March 2025, councillors approved a £260 million revenue budget, a three-year £65m capital budget, and a Council Tax increase of 8.5 per cent.

The Council Tax increase will mean an extra £121.53 per year – or £2.33 per week – for the average Band D household.

Approximately 9,000 (24 per cent) of households would be protected from any Council Tax increase due to receipt of Council Tax Reduction (CTR), whilst a further 2,200 properties receive full exemption.

The increase is to help plug a £4.2m funding gap facing the council in 2025/26 alone and a projected £16m shortfall over the next two years – and support frontline services.

Among the spending announcements made at today’s special meeting were:

• An extra £700,000 for children and families services run by Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to support vulnerable young people
• £600k towards anti-poverty initiatives, including employability
• £600k allocated for support needs (ASN) initiatives
• An additional £600k allocated towards investment in roads
• £270k for tourism to promote Inverclyde’s natural beauty

It was also agreed to allocate £1.5m towards transformation projects to support digital, workforce and service modernisation to help with efficiency savings and £1.2m to replace the financial management systems.

The budget and Council Tax proposals were put forward by council leader Robert Moran and seconded by depute leader Natasha McGuire on behalf of the members’ budget working group (MBWG), which comprises councillors from different political groups and also independents.

Councillor Moran said: “Council services support all our lives every day in different ways.

“Everything we do matters and makes a difference in people's lives here in Inverclyde.

“That's why setting the council budget is so challenging.

“Year-on-year, local government grants have been cut, and Council Tax frozen or capped.

“This year we had a better settlement and a free hand to set Council Tax, which is very welcome, but let’s not forget our financial situation is caused by years of austerity.

“For 15 of the last 18 years Council Tax has been frozen or capped.

“It will come as no consolation to the people of Inverclyde that the 8.5 per cent increase in Council Tax here is less than the double-digit increases we are seeing in other local authority areas, which shows the scale of the financial crisis facing local government.

“The MBWG has worked hard over these past weeks and months to develop proposals that protects and invests in vital frontline services while keeping increases to Council Tax, fees and charges, and cuts to jobs and services to an absolute minimum.

“For most people, the weekly increase in Council Tax amounts to less than a cup of coffee and in return we are able to invest in children and families services to help support some of the most vulnerable young people in our community, deliver extra support for ASN initiatives, and provide additional help for those who are struggling financially through extra anti-poverty and employability funding.

“Today’s budget also means additional investment in our local roads network, specific funding for tourism to help generate inward investment and spend to support local businesses, and allows for further modernisation of council services.

“This is all on top of the ‘run-of-the-mill’ services being delivered day in, day out by talented and dedicated staff right across the council in our schools, libraries and community facilities and in our community through bin collections, street cleaning, and maintenance of park and grounds, to name a few.”

The 8.5 per cent Council Tax increase for 2025/26 will raise an additional £2.975m with the remaining £1.245m being met through the use of reserves.

The Council Tax rise will mean an increase of between £81.02 per year – or £1.55 a week – for those in the lowest Band A properties, which accounts for 46 per cent of Council Tax payers, up to an extra £297.75 – or £5.71 a week – for people living in the highest Band H properties, of which there are 217 chargeable properties.

Projects included in the £65m capital budget that was agreed are:

• £12.6m on the schools and nurseries estate
• Almost £7.5m for roads improvements
• £4.6m towards vehicle replacements
• £2.3m on net zero projects
• Almost £2m for town and village centre improvements
• £1.3m to reinstate the collapsed Dunrod Road
• Just under £1m on cycling, walking and safer routes
• £670k on leisure pitches
• £383k for Waterfront Leisure Centre improvements
• £260k allocated for pavement upgrades and repairs

The special meeting of the council to set the 2025/26 budget and Council Tax is available to watch on the Inverclyde Council YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ns9CW6_yc and associated papers are on the council website at www.inverclyde.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3728.