COUNCIL tax bills in Fife are set to rise by three per cent as part of plans to plug a £9 million funding gap.

Fife Council’s joint leaders have revealed proposals which will go before councillors on Thursday.

Savings will be made through secondary school management restructures, a £2m reduction in roads spending and even a reduction in dog warden services.

Plans to scrap music tuition are likely to be ruled out again despite it being included in the Education and Children’s Service’s proposals to make ends meet.

Also announcing their capital investment plans, a total of £117.572m over 10 years for the much-needed replacements of Inverkeithing, Woodmill and St Columba’s high schools has been set aside but cash from the Scottish Government is still required to make it happen.

Outlining their plans to balance the books – which are still to be approved by Fife councillors – the authority’s joint leaders admitted that more funding than expected from the Scottish Government had made the task easier, though much of this cash is for specific purposes such as free personal care for over-65s and the expansion of nursery provision.

Councillor David Alexander said they had worked with their Labour colleagues to come up with their finalised proposals.

“It is getting harder and harder to make savings,” he said.

“We have got one of the better outcomes I can think of in many years compared to other local authorities. The positives are we have got more money although some of that is ring-fenced – a lot of that is for the free child care, Frank’s Law and more for sanitary products in public places.”

Cllr David Ross added: “In terms of the core grant to services, it is a cut of £4m. When you take inflation into account, we have got a £9m gap between what we have to spend and our income.”

Reviewing management structures in secondary schools is estimated at saving £0.5m in 2019/20 and a further £0.75m in the two following years. Primary class size changes would also see identical savings in the same time period.

Pupil support posts, breakfast clubs and music services will remain untouched while it is hoped that a trial scheme to combat holiday hunger will also be introduced.

Cllr Alexander said they were not prepared to cut music tuition.

“The fact that only one of the local authorities is considering it tells you it is viewed as core to an awful lot of young people,” he said.

“In Fife, the orchestras have got concerts all over the place. It is free to those studying as part of the curriculum and those eligible for free school meals. We are protecting the education budget as far as we can. Hopefully, there will be minimal impact on the education of education of kids in Fife.”

With pressure for new primary schools to meet the needs of new housing developments, £90m has been allocated over a 10-year period, however, the leaders said almost all of this would be recovered through contributions from developers.

With savings earmarked across all services, it is estimated that the proposals will bring around 35 job losses.

“We are very aware that we are dealing with people’s lives and people’s jobs,” added Cllr Alexander.

“There is going to be a reduction of manpower, a possible one per cent, which is well within our average turnover. We do not envisage any compulsory redundancies at all.”