Council Tax is set to rise by up to 5 per cent when West Dunbartonshire Council sets its budget tomorrow (Wednesday).

Members are due to agree a “no cuts budget” for the second year in a row for financial period 2020/21.

But Council Tax is due to rise between 3 and 4.84 per cent. If the increase is at the greater end of the scale, then councillors will raise an additional £640,000 in revenue.

Last month, we reported that council bosses found almost £20million to spare after finance chiefs reviewed existing loans dating back to 1996, looked at re-mortgaging options and any over-payments made.

Since receiving Scottish Government settlement, it was noted that the council has a surplus of £393,000 in 2020/21 – but in the future, they will have cumulative projected funding gaps of £5.521m in 2021/22, and £12.538m in 2022/23.

If the Scottish Government budget, supported by the Greens, is confirmed on March 5 then WDC will receive an additional £1.673m.

The deal also appears to include an additional boost of £15m specific grant capital funding for cycling, walking and safer streets – to be distributed on the basis of existing specific grant; and £25m extra funds for energy efficiency area based schemes – the distribution of this is to be discussed with COSLA.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, SNP councillor Ian Dickson, spokesman for corporate services, said: “I welcome the increase in government funding, which will expand the services delivered by this council.

“Despite the Tory austerity agenda, for an unprecedented second year running I will be bringing forward a no cuts budget on Wednesday, once again protecting the much-needed services delivered by the council.

“This is being achieved partly through decisions made throughout the year on service redesign, as well as using some one-off reserves, and a restructuring of the councils old debt.

“Our SNP budget proposals build on the priorities consultation carried out in the summer, with my focus put on the services people rated as being higher priorities, such as education, or health and social care.

“The SNP budget delivers for schools, for families, the local economy, our environment, and community based services.”