INVERCLYDE Council is set to defy Holyrood plans for a council tax freeze and raise rates by nearly 15 percent over the next two years at a crunch budget meeting tomorrow.

The local authority’s two largest parties have put forward budget proposals which seek to address a £2.5m hole in the council’s 2024/25 finances.

First minister Humza Yousaf offered local authorities the equivalent funding of a five per cent rise in a bid to freeze council tax at current rates for the coming financial year.

But a proposal backed by the incumbent Labour group and independent councillors Tommy McVey and Drew McKenzie would see Inverclyde Council set a two-year budget, with rates rising by 8.2 per cent next year and six percent the year after.

A one-year plan has also been put forward by the council's SNP group, which would see council tax frozen in 2024/25 - but with a £3.2m hole remaining in the budget for 2025/26.

The group, led by Councillor Liz Robertson, has no proposal on how to bridge that funding gap.

The Labour budget includes £449,000 package of proposed cutbacks across the two-year period, with employability services, the council’s Community Grants Fund and transport to Bluebird Family Centre and Glenbrae Children’s Centre facing reductions.

Their proposal, which the Telegraph understands has the backing of 11 out of 22 councillors, would see the Band D Council tax for the area rise by £117.24 next year from £1429.77 to £1547.01.

Unless there are abstentions from the nine Labour elected members and two independent councillors, the budget moved by the administration is likely to pass due to Provost Drew McKenzie having the deciding vote in the event of an 11-11 tie between the Labour and SNP proposals. 

In a statement issued after Labour’s plan was published, Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan decried the proposal as a ‘stunt’.

He claimed that the plans to increase council tax was ‘treating the people of Inverclyde with contempt’.

However, council leader Stephen McCabe has previously claimed that freezing council tax would force the local authority to consider cuts to services and jobs.

Agenda papers published ahead of the meeting also include the results of the second phase of Inverclyde Council’s budget consultation and shows the feedback certain proposals received from residents.

Local people were asked to choose from four approaches to balancing the council budget, which included plans for a council tax freeze as well as proposals for considerable hikes in the levy.

The consultation found that a proposal to set a one-year budget and increase council tax by nine percent in 2024/25 while taking £50k of savings in that same year was the most popular.

This proposal would leave a funding gap of £390k in 2025/26 after a seven per cent rise in council tax.

The least popular proposal was to set a two-year budget and implement a council tax freeze in 2024/25, which the consultation said would mean the council had to make £2m of cuts over the two-year period after increasing council tax by seven per cent in 2025/26.

Respondents were also asked to rank their preferred savings options from a list of 16 potential cuts.

Proposals to slash the opening hours of the council customer service centre, reduce employability services and close the Gourock Civic Amenity Site were ranked as the top three most supported cutbacks.

Reductions to instrumental music instruction in schools, stopping free transport to the Bluebird Family Centre and Glenbrae Children’s Centre and reductions to library opening hours attracted the fewest number of votes.

The matter will be discussed and voted on at the next full council meeting tomorrow and will be available to watch live on the council's YouTube channel.