HERE we go again! Another round of council cuts loom as Argyll and Bute goes into budget planning mode and contemplates further reductions in the value of the tranche it can expect from central government – who are responsible for around 80 per cent of its income.

This year, as they did last time, they plan to go into consultation mode – in effect asking us to decide which cuts would hurt the least. On one level this could be looked on as an extension of local democracy – a council asking its citizenry what matters most to them rather then deciding from on high. And that is to be applauded.

Their newly published document is careful to outline what it has done back at its own ranch to reduce expenditure – everything from cutting utility costs – hope the workforce have their thermals to hand – to leaving vacancies unfilled for longer and longer periods.

There is no room in the missive from the council boss for the news, also just released, that four senior executives now have a payslip north of £90k. The argument put forward is that some of these higher salaries are the result of agreed annual increments rather than new pay rises.

We live in an environment where pay in some areas of the private sector, notably financial services, has long since travelled into the realms of funny money with CEO’s earning millions of pounds and then in receipt of eye watering annual bonuses in case they feel undervalued. There is – I kid you not – a colour supplement produced annually by one London-based newspaper advising the poor bemused dears how best to spend this delicious windfall.

And a raft of lawyers and specialist accountancy firms waiting in the wings to help them stash the unspent away in offshore piggy banks before the taxman has any sight of it.

Public sector pay levels are not remotely in that league, but we can’t hide from the fact that some local authority executives in Scotland have a deal on pay and pension rights about which the average employee can only dream. And it’s right and proper that their earnings go into the “austerity” mix too when the sums are being done.

As we’ve seen in England, reductions in available social care can put unsustainable pressure on the NHS and the effective merger of social and health care planning and provision really is one of the most urgent reforms of our times. It’s crucial too to maintain the building blocks of a secure future for the area’s young people .

Argyll and Bute notes that one of the pieces of expenditure they can’t dodge is the pupil teacher ratio because the Scottish Government insists they do. Just as well, you might think. This is a council with an extremely dodgy track record on maintaining schools and teacher numbers.

The effects of the last round of cuts is already beginning to be felt with lollipop personnel voting with their feet and bin collections causing some confusion. However the status quo was never an option in the current climate – for the moment, something always has to give.

The idea of hiving off swimming pools, community halls, fitness centres etc will be made flesh in the not too distant future and you can well understand the nervousness of the employees wondering if their jobs are secure in the charitable trust model. Glasgow Life was the original template for separating a city council from much of its leisure and sporting portfolio, but there’s a queer difference between a major city within specific boundaries and a sprawling council area covering 23 islands as well as remote villages.

At any rate, we will find out this coming month what the Holyrood budget for councils will be – which in turn they will have calculated after finding out what’s available from Westminster.

And the A&B and we will know whether the news is bad – or worse than that. Happy days.