SCOTTISH Borders Council expects to shed 123 posts in its efforts to bridge a £9.5m revenue funding gap.

Although compulsory redundancies cannot be ruled out, leader David Parker believes the bulk will come through the non-filling of vacancies, natural wastage and voluntary severance deals.

It is believed the so-called “manpower adjustments” will save the local authority £2.7m over the year.

“The council has been preparing for potential staff reductions and is currently holding more vacancies than the targeted reduction,” said councillor Parker.

“This will not mean 123 people losing their jobs.”

He was commenting at a press briefing ahead of next Thursday’s special statutory meeting of the outgoing council when the budget plans 2017/18 will be ratified and Council Tax levels set.

As previously reported, Council Tax, frozen for the past five years, will rise by 3 per cent for Band A-D households and by between 10.7 per cent and 26.2 per cent for Band D-H households.

The revenue funding gap arises from a 4.2 per cent reduction in the grant the council receives from the Scottish Government – which covers 80% of local authority revenue expenditure - and agreed pay awards.

Although the devil will inevitably be in the detail of services and service-users affected by this funding cut, a list of targeted savings in 2017/18 includes:

£1.39m – from staff reductions and redeployment of staff “to deliver services in line with service demand”;

£357,000 – from the redesign of the delivery model to support children with additional support needs;

£724,000 – from education support services following reviews of outdoor education and the school library services.

£310,000 – from the creation of new cleaning services for council properties, including schools;

£1.67m – from implementing an alternative model for the delivery of care and roads services and the integration of staff in customer services, welfare benefits and housing.

£750,000 – from efficiencies in renegotiating commissioned services for children and adults with external providers. £526,000 – from reduction in funding for culture and sports in a joint approach with Live Borders which is seeking to reduce its workforce through voluntary severance/early retirement.

£261,000 – from implementation of a revised asset management strategy; £200,000 – from efficiencies in waste management, including in kerbside collection services; £141,000 – from introducing charges in 27 public conveniences; £200,000 – from a review of subsidised bus services and the re-tendering of contracts.

£1.29m – from the outsourcing of IT services to private company CGI and subsequent efficiency improvements in finance, HR and procurement; £237,000 – from the “more effective deployment” of social work and care staff in delivering services to older people.

£245,000 – from continuing the replacement of sodium street lights with LED installations; £110,000 – from reviewing care packages for both older people and adults with learning disabilities; £451,000 – from increasing fees across a range of services offered by the council, including planning applications, music tuition, school lets and trade waste collections.

“The budget we are putting forward reflects our ongoing commitment to protect frontline services and deliver significant investment for the Borders,” said Mr Parker.

“This includes maintaining teaching numbers in our schools and continuing our ambitious plans to locate here, modernising the way we work and a capital programme which will benefit the whole of the region.”

That capital programme will see the council borrow £321m over the next 10 years to fund a range of projects, including £77m to improve the school estate and an additional £14.2m for essential works to roads and bridges.

Amongst the major projects to benefit is £3.2m additional funding for Hawick Flood Protection Scheme, £6.2m additional funding for energy efficiency works across all of the local authority's buildings, £1.4m additional funding to upgrade adult services facilities, including council-owned care homes.

An additional £500,000 has been earmarked for a 3G pitch in Jedburgh and £800,000 to support the regeneration of Eyemouth.