Council tax frozen as administration budget fails

Dumfries and Galloway Council's Conservative-led administration's budget failed

A council tax freeze has been approved in Dumfries and Galloway despite a defeat of the Conservative-led administration's budget plans.

Proposals tabled by opposition SNP councillors were passed by two votes instead.

The full political impact of that decision has yet to be spelled out.

It means that the charge for a band D property in the region will remain at £1,334.85.

It is not the first time the current administration has been defeated in a major vote.

Last year its proposals to carry out a "gateway review" of the Whitesands flood prevention scheme also lost out by a single vote.

The Conservatives have been in charge of the local authority since March last year when they took over after the SNP leader stepped down after failing to get his budget plans approved.

The cross-party coalition he was in charge of had lasted for less than a year.

How will the council tax freeze be funded?

The council tax freeze will be funded by the Scottish government.

It comes after First Minister Humza Yousaf announced the SNP policy would be for a Scotland-wide freeze.

He said his party was "delivering for people when they need it most" and Holyrood would make up any budgetary shortfall.

Any council which opted to put up taxes would lose some Scottish government funding, meaning a rise in council tax would have to be significant to be meaningful.

Cosla, the umbrella body for Scotland's local authorities, warned that the freeze was playing a part in putting councils and the government in a "fundamental position of dispute".

Scottish Borders Council announced a freeze recently but its finance councillor Mark Rowley said they had been left "between a rock and a hard place".