OIC budget cuts revealed — but £150k of savings remain redacted

Over £150,000 in budget cuts are being kept under wraps by Orkney Islands Council (OIC).

Savings measures which have been disclosed to The Orcadian include “stricter controls” on printing and the removal of home-based registrars in the isles.

When the local authority gave the green-light to its budget in March, this included a six per cent increase in council tax, a 3.8 per cent rise in charges, and a £20 million draw from reserves.

The budget approved by councillors also required savings totalling £247,000, though the details were not made public at the time.

The Orcadian submitted a Freedom of Information request for the details of the cuts, but some have been redacted.

Only £91,900 of the savings measures have been shared with the newspaper. The rest have been redacted because, OIC says, they contain information about third parties.

The council papers show that £68,000 is to be cut from “enterprise and economic development budgets” and £10,000 by revising fees for property and street naming.

OIC is hoping that measures to “review and rationalise printing via stricter controls” could save the authority £8,700.

The remaining cuts detailed in the papers shared with the newspaper consist of smaller sums. These include £1,000 for terminating contracts with home-based isles registrars, and £200 for revising fees for “food premises health certification.”

The papers also include some details on the £2.5 million “unavoidable service pressures” identified by the council.

Caring for vulnerable children outwith Orkney amounts to £878,600 of this, while IT licenses total £113,900.