COUNCILLORS will be asked to approve a three per cent council tax rise in East Lothian for the coming year as officials look to plug a £10 million funding gap.

Despite a pledge by Councillor Norman Hampshire, council leader, to do all he could to avoid increasing the annual household bill, the administration’s draft budget plans include a three per cent hike for the year ahead – with five per cent increases over the following two years meaning council tax could go up by 13 per cent over three years.

In a report on the administration’s draft budget proposal, finance chief Sarah Fortune said that, despite additional funding from the Scottish Government to cover extra demands on the local authority’s budget from national policies, there was still a shortfall.

She said: “Removing expenditure aligned to new policy initiatives within the national settlement, this still leave a very significant funding gap in excess of £10 million in 2022-23.”

Recommending the council tax increase, her report adds: “A council tax increase of three per cent for 2022-23 is being proposed, with indicative rises of five per cent in the following two years.

“This remains consistent with the settlement letter, which states that councils are expected to take full account of local needs and impacts on household budgets of the decisions they make.”

The increase will mean Band D houses will see an annual increase of £39.08 to £1,341.69 a year.

Mr Hampshire said last month that council rent would not go up this year and that he would be trying to avoid a council tax increase.

READ MORE: Council rents freeze proposed by East Lothian Council administration

He said: “The Scottish Government has again cut £100m for local government core funding and that’s £2m from East Lothian but, because people are struggling with energy, fuel and other price increases, we will freeze rents and do all we can not to increase council tax.”

The cabinet meeting to approve the draft budget was delayed by a week because a by-election was held in the county last week, which saw Labour win a seat made vacant by the death of former council leader Willie Innes.

Among efficiencies proposed in the draft budget are more than £1 million in savings from a “review of services”, with more than £11 million in cuts expected over the following two years.

No details of where the savings will be made through services are confirmed, with the review looking at “delivery models; enhanced programme of transformational change; new ways of working”, along with exploring partnership working and ways to generate income.

A fee for the charging of electric vehicles, first introduced in February 2020, is estimated to bring in £10,000 over the coming year, while the capital spend programme details more than £94 million in planned work, with just under half on the council’s school estate, and more than £5 million investment earmarked for the council’s fleet of vehicles.

Opposition groups will be given until February 21 to produce an alternative budget proposal for consideration.