GERRY BRAIDEN and JONATHAN LIEW FEARS of rafts of redundancies across Scotland's councils failed to materialise yesterday as political analysts described the local authority budgets as a "softly softly" attempt to cushion the blow of the recession by avoiding job losses.
For the second year running, council tax levels are staying the same, although householders will see a rise in their monthly bills as water and sewage charges, which are set by Scottish Water, are collected by councils.
However, some are predicting a very different picture next year as the £500m annual cut to the Scottish budget by Westminster takes hold.
The main public sector union, Unison, is also warning that the figures mask the real picture of local government finances, that the "annual ratcheting was getting tighter and tighter" and that the council tax and business rates freeze was having a detrimental effect on frontline services.
This year's budgets come on the back of an unprecedented financial crisis, with blackholes in the big urban authorities totalling more than £350m.
Highland Council will see the biggest impact on its workforce, with 110 posts to go, although the authority insists it can achieve the vast bulk of these without the need for compulsory redundancies.
At the other end of the country, Scottish Borders will also seek to considerably reduce the size of its workforce, this time by 74, although it insists a number of these posts are already vacant.
Edinburgh, which claimed care services and "economic resilience" were at the heart of its spending plans, said it was "not predicting any job losses at this stage" but said, like other authorities, staff in areas such as planning which are encountering the worst excesses of the downturn could be redeployed.
Glasgow, which announced in November that it may shed some senior posts to balance the books and is currently looking at savings of £3m per month, froze council tax for the fourth year in succession.
Stephen Curran, the City Treasurer, said: "The city and council face great economic challenges, but we are well placed to meet them. We will pay for the freeze through strong leadership and good governance - through service reform and prudence. This will be welcomed in every Glasgow household at a time when many other bills have been rising."
The council will also look to save £5m through a new attendance management plan aimed at reducing the number of working days lost due to absence.
East Ayrshire was another where posts were being lost.
Douglas Reid, leader of authority, said: "Arising from these budget decisions the council will require to reduce the size of its workforce in order to achieve certain savings. Where this is necessary, the reductions will be achieved through natural wastage, redeployment and voluntary severance.
"As always, there will be full consultation with the trade unions and it is anticipated that workforce reductions will be achieved without recourse to compulsory redundancies."
South Ayrshire Council said it would continue to look at the future of the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr but will close Pet's Corner in Belleisle south of the town and will also review the future of Dalmilling Golf Course.
Ross Martin, policy director for the centre-left Centre for Scottish Public Policy, said that although councils have been facing downward pressure since 2007 many were holding back on more radical measures such as redundancies so as not to exacerbate the recession in their areas by swelling the ranks of the unemployed.
He said: "Councils are having to face up to tough decisions but these budgets suggest this year they're going soft on that. They haven't quite got to the point where their budgets are forcing them to make real changes happen.
"They'll be looking at a raft of individual areas, but have been squeezing gently and squeaked home with their budgets. They are still not being forced to do the stuff Glasgow has been doing, such as the creation of arms-length bodies, but by next year they could be forced into that position.
"Some councils, though, are being a bit brave about not filling some posts in preparation for 2010/2011."
Matt Smith, Unison Scottish secretary, added: "I'm very pleased, relieved, that at this stage councils aren't looking at redundancies across the board but things are getting tighter and tighter, especially with the freeze and business rates.
"I'm also concerned that vacancies are not being filled. We will be keeping a close eye on things because over the year things could develop seriously."
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