Councillor Mac Roberts leader of the Conservative group commenting on todays Council budget meetings said:
The Conservatives budget is both a budget for the economic welfare of Perth & Kinross and also a budget which protects the essential services which the people of Perth & Kinross depend on. Gone are the days when we could have expected to have had ever more money to spend on additional services, today we have to make do with less and cut our cloth to suit. As the party of low taxation we have no intention of increasing council tax. The hard working folk of Perth & Kinross and those on fixed incomes have enough to contend with without a tax increase.
To improve the ease of visiting our town and city centres we propose to introduce pay on exit to our car parks. To make our town and city centres more attractive places to visit and do business we propose to introduce a façade enhancement scheme giving technical support and grants to property owners who wish to improve the appearance of their buildings.
To improve employment prospects we are putting £1,000,000 into attracting new businesses to Perth & Kinross as well as providing £500,000 for employability schemes to improve work prospects.
To protect the elderly and the vulnerable we are freezing charges for daycare services, community alarms and the supply and use of occupational therapy equipment.
We wish we could do more but in these difficult financial times we must do just as everyone else is doing, live within our means and get as good value for our limited funds as we can.
we must do, just as everyone else is doing, live within our means and get as good value for our limited funds as we can