At a special full council meeting last week, councillors approved spending plans and a 7.9% Council Tax increase in each of the next two years to help address a funding gap of more than £8 million.

Fees and charges will also increase by 7.5% in 26/27 and 27/28 and 26 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs will be lost.

The Council Tax rise will mean an extra £122.55 per year – or £2.36 per week – for the average Band D household.

Most Inverclyde properties are in Bands A to C with those rates increasing by between £81.70 and £108.94 annually – equivalent of between £1.57 and £2.10 per week.

Approximately 9,000 – 24% – of households are protected from any Council Tax increase due to receipt of Council Tax reduction while a further 1,600 properties receive full exemption.

The revenue budget proposals, which also include the use of reserves, will avoid the worst of the proposed cuts that were included in a recent public consultation.

This follows feedback from residents, staff, and other stakeholders about what their key spending priorities are.

Facilities including Port Glasgow Library, Port Glasgow Swimming Pool, and Greenock Central Library will remain open, and services such as active schools, community wardens and events, will all continue following approval of the budget.  

There will also be an additional:

• £1.5m allocated towards investment in roads over the next three years on top of the existing roads budget
• £300,000 a year for additional support needs (ASN) provision.

The 26 FTE jobs will be lost across a variety of council services through non-replacement of vacant posts, early release, and service redesigns.

The revenue budget and Council Tax plans were developed by the council’s members’ budget working group (MBWG), which is made up of representatives from all parties and some independents. There was also engagement with trade unions.

The revenue budget deals with day-to-day spending, such as wages, costs and utilities.

Councillors also agreed a separate three-year capital budget of around £87m, which covers one-off projects and infrastructure costs and includes:

• £2m for the regeneration of Port Glasgow Town Centre
• over £12m for road improvements
• completion of the new £10m adult learning disability hub
• completion of the £1.6m refurbishment and extension of Grieve Road Community Hall
• more than £8m for maintaining the schools’ estate
• £11m for new commercial properties to attract and retain jobs
• nearly £18m for the redevelopment of Central Greenock

Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Stephen McCabe, leader of Inverclyde Council, said: “None of us see a Council Tax rise of 7.9% as an easy option, although it is less than the 8.67% increase in charges approved by Scottish Water. While around a quarter of households will face no increase in their bills, we know that rises of this magnitude will impact on family finances.

“We also know that increases in charges will impact on families and businesses who use council services. The alternative, of course, would have been to cut more services. That is not a pain free option either.

“The truth is that after nearly 20 years of cutting budgets – since 2008 we have made £77m worth of savings – there is no fat left to cut. Even those savings that we are proposing are not pain free. They involve the loss of 26 posts and will impact on the capacity of the council to respond to the needs of the community and on the level of service we are able to provide in some areas.

“Regularly these days we hear residents in Inverclyde and elsewhere ask why they should pay more in Council Tax for poorer services. The reason is that in Inverclyde, Council Tax only pays for around 14% of the cost of council services and when the Scottish Government cuts our funding Council Tax needs to increase to offset that cut.

“If we did not make some cuts to services on top of that Council Tax rises would need to be even greater. In this budget we are using a significant part of the savings we are making to try to improve services in other areas.

“We are providing £800k in 2026/27 to support services for children and young people looked after by the Health and Social Care Partnership with a further £500k planned for 2027/28. That is on top of the £700k we allocated last year for the same purpose.

“We are building in £300k to our base budget to enhance out of school provision for children and young people with additional support needs. If we were to receive a better settlement from the Scottish Government in 2027/28 there may be an opportunity to increase these sums further.”

At the special council meeting, councillors approved a £280.568m revenue budget, and a Council Tax increase of 7.9% for 2026/27.

They also agreed a further indicative Council Tax increase of 7.9% and a revenue budget of £284.754m for 2027/28.

These increases plus use of council reserves will help plug the £8.224m funding gap facing the council over the next two years, 2026/27 and 2027/28.

Since 2008, the council has made £77m of budget savings.

Council Tax makes up just 14% of the council’s revenue budget and helps pay for services such as education, social care, libraries, roads, and waste and recycling.

Nearly 17,500 households in Inverclyde are in Band A and the 7.9 increase works out at an extra £1.57 per week or £81.70 per year.

The 7.9% Council Tax increase for 2026/27 will raise an additional £3m with a further £3.240m of income from the indicative 7.9% increase in 2027/28.

Of the £5.35m worth of savings proposals included in the public consultation, 14 options are being taken with a total saving of £1.575m over the years 2026/28.

This includes the proposed increase of 7.5% in 2026/27 and 2027/2028 for council fees and charges.

Previously approved savings will also be made, including existing internal service adjustments totalling £1.804m over 2026/28.