Councillors reject 7.7 per cent council tax hike but agree three per cent rise

Most Orcadians will pay an extra £36.25 in council tax from the start of April.

The three per cent rise was agreed on Tuesday after Orkney Islands councillors knocked back two proposed heftier hikes.

The move will result in householders in Band D paying £1,244.73 for the 2022/23 year.

It came in the wake of what council leader James Stockan dubbed the “worst budget settlement in Scotland” from the Scottish Government.

He claimed OIC has had “scandalous” treatment compared to other island authorities.

The below-inflation increase will require OIC to draw more than £11 million from reserves to support its budget of £91 million for the coming financial year.

Opposing a recommended 7.7 per cent rise, council vice convener Leslie Manson said it would be “a slap in the face’ to islanders who are facing swingeing cost-of-living costs as they emerge from the pandemic.

“It doesn’t matter how you look at this — a 7.7 per cent increase is not acceptable,” he told fellow members of the special policy and resources committee meeting.

Read more in this week’s The Orcadian.