A report issued by the Accounts Commission found that charges bring Scottish councils around £1.3bn in revenue each year, more than half (57%) the amount raised through council tax. This is up from 40% in 2003.
It urged councils to make efforts to understand both user needs and cost information so they could make informed decisions on the level at which to set charges.
Commission chair John Baillie said: ‘These are financially tough times for councils and the public alike. It is important that councils have the ability to set appropriate charges for the services they provide but people also want to know exactly what they are paying for and that the charge is fair.’
The report, Charging for services: are you getting it right?, highlighted the different approaches to charging across local government in Scotland and set out good practice. It identified significant variation in charges levied by councils. For example, home care charges were found to range from £8.56 to £23.70 an hour, while some authorities offered a free pest control services but others charged £102.
Cameron Buchanan, Scottish Conservative local government spokesman, said Audit Scotland had raised some very legitimate concerns.
‘It’s completely wrong that people in one area have to pay through the nose for one service, yet a few miles down the road this could be provided for free,’ he said.
‘I hope this study leads to a change in approach from local authorities so we can see some equality across the country.’
For Scottish Labour, Sarah Boyack said the report showed the Scottish Government’s council tax freeze had ‘broken local government finance’.
She said: ‘We now know that councils are being forced to increase charges to the public in order to raise revenue at a higher rate than before.’
