COUNCIL leaders have called for an urgent meeting with Scottish ministers, as reports suggest they are in a “fundamental dispute” over funding.
Cosla, the local authority umbrella body, is understood to have raised concerns via letter over issues including the council tax freeze and teacher numbers.
They are calling for discussions to be held on the Verity House Agreement, reached between Cosla and the First Minister shortly after he took office, which sets out the relationship between the two bodies.
Cosla declined to comment on the contents of the letter.
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BBC Scotland reported that the group are in a “fundamental position of dispute” and are understood to have raised concerns over the “extremely disappointing tone” of letters sent by Cabinet ministers.
It comes as Deputy First Minister Shona Robison told local authorities they will not receive money to cover a council tax freeze if they opt to increase the levy.
Meanwhile, Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said the Verity House Agreement was “dead in the water”.
"It all stems from the First Minister's announcement of a council tax freeze without any consultation with local government – or anybody, it would seem,” the Labour councillor told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland.
"That has set the tone of the ongoing discussions between the government and local government and, increasingly over the last number of months, the government has become intransigent in a number of ways."
Humza Yousaf announced the council tax freeze during his speech to the SNP conference in October last year.
Both Cosla and the Scottish Greens have voiced opposition to the decision, but the Scottish Government’s Budget passed in Holyrood last week.
McCabe claimed the freeze was not being fully funded by the Scottish Government and there had been a refusal to engage in any “meaningful negotiations” around the dispute.
"Local government fundamentally opposes the principle of a council tax freeze because it should be up to local councils to set the council tax," he said.
"But the First Minister said he would negotiate the council tax freeze with Cosla and it would be fully funded.
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"It is not fully funded and there have been no negotiations. There have been lots of discussions but no negotiations.
"The Scottish Government basically has not moved: it's a 'take it or leave it'. Some councils will ultimately take it and there may well be other councils who will leave it."
McCabe told the broadcaster that Cosla had made a counter offer of a 5% cap on council tax rises, but that this had been rejected.
“The Scottish Government is prepared to put income tax up to protect public services, but they want councils to freeze council tax," he said.
"And the consequence of freezing council tax will be cuts to services. And we've been cutting services for 17 years."
The Deputy First Minister (above) said that £147m had been provided to local authorities as an equivalent to a 5% rise, and £145m to maintain teacher numbers.
The Finance Secretary said Cosla had demanded money for the freeze as well as other asks that weren’t a “very reasonable negotiating position”.
“We will continue to discuss with Cosla where there are areas of further compromise but it has to be reasonable and it has to be fair to the rest of the public sector,” she said.
"It has to be fair to council tax payers and it has to be fair to parents who expect teachers in the classroom.
"We have to take a step back from the politics and actually look at how we can reach a compromise."
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