Council Budget 2009/10

The Council has announced a freeze on Council Tax for the second year, meaning that Edinburgh still has the lowest Band D Council Tax rate of the four largest Scottish cities. The Band D Council Tax rate will be £1,169.

Care services and economic support are at the heart of the budget. View the Budget Motion 2009/10 (Word, 188kb). More details are available at:

Prudential Indicators (Word, 131kb)
Income Generation and Savings (Word, 131kb)
Administration Group Revenue Budget 2009 - 10 (Excel, 39kb)
Administration Group Capital Budget 2009 - 13 (Excel, 35kb)
Proposed Changes to Charges (Excel, 448kb)

Key elements of the budget include:

• £1.2million for older people’s care
• £2million to support adults and children with physical or learning disabilities
• £1.4million on care for vulnerable children
• £1.3million for economic development, including securing business investment, increasing spending by visitors, and helping people into work.

Councillor Jenny Dawe, Leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, said: "Under this administration, we have become the most improved urban authority in Scotland. This ambitious and balanced budget will see us continuing to provide the excellent services that the people of Edinburgh want. It is also about building a fairer society and a stronger economy."

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, Finance Convenor, said: "In our first year we focused on stabilising the Council’s finances. Because of this, we’re better prepared for the current economic conditions and are able to invest more in the frontline services the public tell us they want."

Councillor Nick Elliott-Cannon, Depute Finance Convenor, added: "This budget continues the process of transforming services for residents, who will have nothing extra to pay thanks to a second freeze in Council Tax. As well as this, we have secured a capital city supplement from the Scottish Government, recognising that Edinburgh has a vital and unique national role."

Summary of key points from the budget motion

Maximising opportunities and learning for our children

• £1.4million to support vulnerable children in looked-after environments
• £250,000 for schools to use on supplies and services (as well as exempting devolved school budgets from Council-wide efficiency targets, saving schools around £3.7million)
• £350,000 for care of children with physical and learning disabilities
• £4.1million for Towerbank and Corstophine primary schools
• £6million towards replacing Portobello High School and £1.5million for the initial design phase of James Gillespie's High School.

Promoting wellbeing - caring for our most vulnerable

• £10million for two new care homes
• £1.196million for older people's care, especially over-85s
• £1.627million for adults with physical and learning disabilities
• £500,000 for respite care for adults with disabilities
• £500,000 for ‘telecare’ packages that support independent living
• £4.8million for free personal care and nursing

Development of the city and regional economy, including transport and housing

• £500,000 to attract £500million of new investment in Waterfront, Princes Street, West Edinburgh and Bioquarter
• £300,000 on responding to redundancies and other consequences of the recession
• £300,000 on increasing visitor spend by 15%
• £50,000 to bring 3000 people into sustainable employment, education or training
• £275,000 for festivals, museums and archives
• £130,000 to promote and support cycling

A safe, green, clean, attractive and environmentally sustainable city

• £1.2million on pitches, pavilions and play areas
• £1million to reduce energy consumption and the council’s carbon footprint

More key points

Other key points from the budget include:
Investment in roads and footpaths will be £69million over the next four years, but with a rephased programme to minimise city centre works while tramworks are ongoing.

The Council’s general unallocated reserves will be increased by £2million in line with a three year policy to reinstate reserves to 1% of the overall budget. This policy is supported by comment from Audit Scotland.

Edinburgh Leisure will receive an increase of £737,000, the first above-inflation uplift for the trust.

An annual fund of £700,000 has been set aside to provide for repairs to buildings leased to the Council.

Existing budgets of around £3million will be combined with the additional £1million allocated this year to create an overall fund for delivering energy and environmental improvements across the city.

Council tax bands

The council tax band levels for Edinburgh in 2009/2010 will be:

• Band A: £779.33
• Band B: £909.22
• Band C: £1,039.00
• Band D: £1,169.00
• Band E: £1,428.78
• Band F: £1,688.56
• Band G: £1,948.33
• Band H: £2,338.00.

However, Scottish Water, which charges for water and sewerage, has confirmed that its rates will go up by 3.7% which means householders will see a small rise in their monthly bills.

The total revenue budget is £1042million. Council Tax makes up £225million of this with £816million coming from Government grants. The total capital budget is £294million.