A DELAY in plans to pay more into teachers’ pensions has left the council’s budget shortfall £500,000 better off.

The latest figures, issued late Friday afternoon, hint at the constantly shifting calculations for West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) as it prepares to set the 2019/20 budget tmorrow (March 27).

Though there is still a £4.5million hole to fill, the SNP administration already announced last month they would make no cuts to services beyond more than £2m in so-called management adjustments.

They would dip into reserves and look to recalculate their debt to balance the books.

Council bosses have also decided to hike fees for some services - four per cent on most but some as high as 26 per cent. And hire of music instruments will now climb to £100.

Dealing with seagulls will see a huge rise as residents will now have to pay the full cost.

Art and youth theatre classes will increase by £2 per session while early years charges are to go up 10 per cent, as will school lets. Golf fees are to go up by 20 per cent.

And the care of gardens fee will rise from £58.33 a year to their full cost, £275.

Councillor Ian Dickson, finance convener, told the Post a decade of austerity and now uncertainty over Brexit would force more need to support services such as West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare and Food 4 Thought.

He said: “The term ‘management adjustments’ can be confusing because under this administration they are still reviewed by the councillors and published for all to see.

“They are called management adjustments because no services are cut. Examples might be switching to a cheaper type of printer paper, or charging nearby councils more for the work we do for them.

“The councils big capital spends are borrowed money that is paid back over a number of years and which often save money. The new offices in Church Street for example cost £15m, but has reduced the council’s annual bills by nearly £500,000 a year compared to when they were at Garshake. This is money that we can continue to spend on frontline services like streetlighting, road repairs, schools and care homes.

“Reserves can only be spent once, and then they are gone for good. With a forecast gap of £5m this year and £10-13m next year we clearly won’t get very far by raiding the emergency fund for day-to-day services.”

Council budgets are in constant flux depending on costs or delays to projects, government funds, unexpected events such as the Havoc Sports Pavilion fire last year and the general economy.

Even since November last year, the budget gap has continued to change. The current gap of £4.5m is down from £5.1m two weeks ago.

The original gaps back in November were said to be £5.9m for next year, then £5.0m by 2020/21 and £13.5m for 2021/22, but these have both now also risen.