Fife Council balance the books after budget meeting

At Fife House today, councillors voted 39-30 in favour of the minority Labour administration's budget which will balance the books and investment of more than £14 million.

That includes money to fix the roads, buy new council vehicles, combat violence in schools and improve pedestrian access to recycling centres, while the chamber was told of an 11th hour addition with the Scottish Government giving an extra £62.7m for local authorities.

READ MORE: Labour dismiss 'lazy and inept' SNP budget proposals

Fife's share is still to be determined and councillors went ahead with the budget proposals in front of them, agreeing to keep council tax pegged at £1,385 for band D properties and increase council fees and charges by five per cent.

Fife Council leader David Ross. (Image: Fife Council)

Council leader David Ross said: "This is a budget that maintains our prudent approach to managing council finances, but in the face of continuing financial pressures, it shows that the Labour administration is not simply prepared to manage decline, as some would have us do.

"We will continue to defend jobs and services and will remain ambitious for our communities."

There was broad agreement on much of the spending proposals in the Labour budget, including £500,000 on educational psychologists to help combat the rising levels of violence in Fife schools, £880,000 for subsidised bus contracts and £250,000 for street cleansing and grounds maintenance.

From the 'one-off' money available, almost £20m in total, they've allocated £14.2m.

There will be £2.5m for the Scottish Welfare Fund, to give more targeted support to those suffering from hardship, an extra £2.1m for the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, taking the council's contribution up to £17.1m, and £5m to pay for 120 new vehicles in the council's fleet - some 543 are more than 10 years-old and in need of replacing.

READ MORE: SNP slam Labour 'negativity' over Fife Council budget plans

There's £3.5m for roads and £20,000 for improving pedestrian access to Dalgety Bay and St Andrews recycling centres.

The council will also spend £210,000 on "preparatory work" towards supplying every pupil with a digital device to aid their learning; £360,000 on new mechanical pavement / road sweepers; £200,000 on a bus study, to review the current network and how it might be improved; and £250,000 for improvements at Craigtoun Park in St Andrews.

Leader of the opposition, David Alexander. (Image: Fife Council)

They'll also make grants available to Fife residents, up to £5,000, to help them protect their homes from flooding and coastal erosion. And £100,000 will go to the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust.

The SNP's proposals were near enough the same, expect they wanted to spend £4m on road repairs, £100,000 for flood prevention schemes and £300,000 for a solar compactor in Dunfermline city centre, to hide the bins underground.

All parties backed the council tax freeze, Labour did so reluctantly, but the SNP said there was no need for the five per cent rise in fees and charges for services like cremations and funerals.

After the general fund revenue budget was agreed, councillors backed the administration proposal for a council home rent increase of five per cent.

From April this will add £4.12 a week to the average rent cost, taking the average weekly rent to £86.53.

The SNP had argued for a four per cent rise but this was defeated in a vote.

Cllr Judy Hamilton, the council's housing spokesperson, said: "We are on the brink of a housing emergency here in Fife and the rent increase we are introducing is lower than most other councils are implementing.

"However, that means there will still be a gap in the budget and this year we will be dipping into reserves to avoid that bigger increase for tenants."