Cash-strapped South Ayrshire Council is looking to axe scores of posts to meet a £10m shortfall. The Tory-led authority has already instigated the nation's highest council tax rise, at 3.9% And now it is looking to cut staff numbers as it battles to make up a funding gap it claims is the legacy of a previous administration. A council spokesman said: ‘There has been a trawl for voluntary severance, whether it could be early retirement or taking a package. The council claims its speculative figure of 147 posts, outlined in the council's notification to the DTI of potential redundancies, is way above the actual number of jobs likely to go. The council currently has an income of £230m but officers claim its estimated spend for the next financial year will be £240m. Council leader, Cllr Gibson Macdonald, said: ‘Our last administration's members were grasshoppers, giving no thought to tomorrow and spent what they had as they went along so there are no reserves to lighten the burden.'
