This is down to prolonged inflationary pressures and local authorities being short-changed by the Scottish Government.
Council finance officers have this week described a “sustained reduction in core funding over an extended period” from Holyrood.
The matter will be raised at the full council meeting next Thursday where councillors will discuss this alarming £50m projection, along with the development of a medium term financial strategy in relation to staff pay increases, inflationary pressures, and reduced Scottish Government funding.
A report produced for the meeting by Gillian Ross, the council’s finance and accounting manager, reads: “Figures recently produced by COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) indicated that the local government core settlement has seen a real terms reduction of 15.2 percent since 2013/14 and that the proportion of the Scottish Government budget going to local government has fallen from 34 percent in 2013/14 to 28 percent in 2022/23.
“During this period, an increasing proportion of the funding provided to councils has been ring fenced to support the delivery of new national priorities thus requiring councils to identify reductions in other service areas in order to balance their budgets.”
She added: “The current high-level estimate of the funding gap facing the upcoming five-year period is that the council’s funding gap will be around £50m over the period 2023/24–2027/28.”
Scottish Government ministers argue that councils have been funded fairly, however trade union leaders have also hit out over reductions in financial support for local authorities.
Wendy Dunsmore, Unite industrial officer, recently told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The Scottish Government have cut the funding of local authorities year on year for the last 12 years, there is nothing left for Scottish local authorities to give.
“The Scottish Government have to give the full Barnett consequentials to local government which it was aimed for.”
Dumfries and Galloway Council relies on the annual grant funding settlement from the Scottish Government as 82 percent of its net revenue budget.
However, with the purse strings tightening every year at Holyrood, the council has been forced to make cuts and identify savings totalling £116m since 2010/11.
The council report continues: “While there is considerable uncertainty regarding future financial projections, it is readily apparent that Scottish councils will continue to face very significant financial challenges and the need to further reduce spending over the upcoming period.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The overall local government 2022-23 funding package of almost £12.7 billion represents an increase of more almost £1.1 billion, or 6.3 per cent in real terms, compared with 2021-22.
“This comes against a cut to the Scottish Government’s overall budget of 5.2 per cent in real terms, due primarily to UK Government funding reductions.”
