Council's rising debt

DUMFRIES and Galloway Council’s total debt now stands at £220,116,000, equivalent to £1511 per resident.

New figures from the BBC Shared Data Unit have revealed the amount and that it rose by 30 per cent in a year, up by £50,941,000 on 2023-4.

And that increase equated to £349.70 extra per person locally, writes Fiona Reid.

Explaining the situation in more detail, a spokesperson for Dumfries and Galloway Council this week said: “The increase in debt relates to planned investment in our schools, other public buildings and infrastructure.

“This increase in debt in 2024/25 follows a period where the council’s debt has fallen significantly in recent years and the council’s level of debt remains well below the average level across Scottish local authorities.”

The regional position is reflective of the rest of the UK and experts have described the national situation of spiralling levels of debt as “extremely worrying” but not surprising.

Jonathan Carr-West, of the Local Government Information Unit, said:

“I think the reason that councils are in financial trouble is because we have systemically underfunded local government for the past 15 years, we’ve created a system in which there is not enough money in the sector and in which councils have become reliant on their own ability to generate money, whether through local taxes or through return on investment.

“For me, the key question we need to look at is not necessarily the council’s overall level of debt, but its ability to pay back that debt and how that compares to the level of revenue those assets are bringing in.”