Reports presented to the Policy and Resources Committee before the council sets its budget today show a budget gap of £13.3 million for 2026/27. 

They set out the scenario for balancing the budget on the basis of a 6% increase in council tax. 

This would include the closure, sale or transfer of all public toilets, closure of face-to-face customer service points, reduction in the roads winter maintenance and street sweeping services, the loss of environmental wardens, reduction of funding to Live Argyll resulting in the closure or reduction of some library and leisure services, and loss of council jobs across different council services, affecting 66 people. 

The budget gap includes £4.5m of cost pressures, covering a range of demands including additional support needs (ASN) support for young people, costs for bus transport, council dams, harbours repair and maintenance, resurfacing at Oban Airport and school clothing grants. 

The reports also highlight the growing demand for social care services for elderly and vulnerable people bringing multi-million-pound cost pressures.

Councillor Ross Moreland, policy lead for finance services, said: “There is huge and growing demand on the council budget. We all use council services every day in some way. And Argyll and Bute’s geography means that this council delivers significant services that other councils do not.

“Work to set the budget goes on throughout the year, to look at all the options, and how we can deliver every ounce of value from every pound there is.

“If we spend money on one thing it can’t be spent on another. Setting the budget is as simple and as complex as that.”