Gig lovers face new charges in Glasgow's budget

Published 20th Feb 2019

Music fans going to outdoor gigs in Glasgow could be asked to help plug the hole in the city's finances councillors meet at the City Chambers tomorrow to set the budget for next year.

The authority needs to find £41 million through savings and new ways of raising money.

One of the ideas is a 2 pounds 50 environmental levy on tickets for events like TRNSMT and Summer Sessions.

The SNP leadership is also proposing to put up council tax bills by 3% percent and will take £13m from its reserves, leaving £10m left in the account.

The change would see the charge for a Band C property increase by £34 per year.

Council Tax revenue would rise by £6.6m

Charges in council-operated car parks will go up by an average of 40p per hour and changes approved last year to on-street parking, ending free parking in the city centre on Sundays, will raise almost £500,000.

Fees for community lets of school facilites would increase by 2.5%

Savings will also be found in refuse collections which will move from fortnightly to every three weeks with officials arguing that many bins are being collected half empty, making the service inefficient.

The trade union, Unison, says the SNP group is proposing to cut £4m from the education budget and 13 million from social care.

Among the proposed investments is £20m for a Community Hub model, extending the school clothing grant to S5 & S6 and replacing all the remaining red bales pitches at primary schools.

But will the plans be voted through?

As Clyde News revealed yesterday the minority group is still looking for support from other parties to get it through, and the Greens, who have supported the budget in previous years, say they won't vote for it this time