COUNCIL Tax rises of between five and six and a half per cent have been put forward for Dumfries and Galloway.
Councillors will next week settle on their budget for 2023-4 and political parties have been revealing their plans.
Labour are proposing the five per cent increase, while the Conservatives want to see six per cent, and the SNP/Independents are mooting six and a half per cent.
Officials say each one percent increase in the council tax level will generate additional funding of around £805,000 per annum to support the provision of council services.
But it could mean households locally in Band D having to find an extra £62.95 per year, or as much as £81.83 if the biggest increase goes through.
All parties argue a rise is necessary to be able to balance the books due to the £12.9m budget shortfall and ongoing pay disputes.
Elected members will meet in Dumfries on Tuesday to decide which package of measures to go for.
The principal tenets of each party’s budget are the same with all of them agreeing to continue to provide cost of living support and invest in roads repairs.
Savings will also come from the same areas, such as reducing the local authority’s energy usage, implementing more energy efficiency measures, carrying out a digital service redesign and looking at the council’s property estate.
A report produced for next week’s meeting states: “At present the Band D council tax in Dumfries and Galloway of £1259 is seven per cent below the national average.
“Having a council tax below the national average effectively reduces the funding available to support council services in Dumfries and Galloway by £5.6m per annum.
“Having a council tax level below the national average has also in recent years resulted in the council receiving reduced shares of national funding allocations where these have been linked to council tax income levels.”
