COUNCIL bosses are recommending axing staff and offloading community centres in a bid to save just £130,000.

The savings - equal to the annual salary of West Dunbartonshire Council's chief executive, Joyce White - have been earmarked after more than a year of consultation and analysis.

Opposition parties have condemned the options being put forward to this week's corporate services committee.

As well as cutting six jobs, the plans would look to push West Dunbartonshire Gymnastics Club to take over West Dunbartonshire Activity Centre in Brucehill.

They would also look to have the community take over Bowling Village Hall.

An additional £57k could be saved by slashing opening hours at Glenhead Community Centre in Duntocher.

West Dunbartonshire Leisure Trust and the council agree that 35.3 full-time staff is an "overprovision".

Council officials also considered other options, such as closing "low occupancy" Bowling, Bonhill, Glenhead and Clydebank East centres, cutting six jobs and saving £133k.

A third option would still close Bowling, Bonhill and Glenhead, but instead target Alexandria, axing 6.5 jobs and saving £142k.

Jack Fordy, of Bonhill and Dalmonach Community Council, said while some centres struggle to attract footfall, they remained "well loved local institutions".

Another proposal to the corporate services committee will see all council One Stop Shop services spread to libraries, saving the authority another £150k by cutting another six jobs.

Council leader Jonathan McColl told the Reporter: "The consultation was extremely worthwhile and directly influenced the options being presented to committee.

"We believe that by using better management of resources rather than simply removing facilities from our communities, we can deliver the savings required without a single closure.”

But Labour's David McBride said: "I am very concerned regarding the latest round of SNP cuts.

"Not content with the services cuts they have imposed on us in recent years and one of the highest charges in Scotland for vital community alarms for the elderly, now even more cuts to jobs and services are being proposed.

"Once again our SNP councillors are attacking low-paid staff which sees a minimum of 12 jobs will be lost as staff have to take on additional duties to make savings of £300k. This is before the next budget round as we continue to be underfunded by the Scottish Government."

Jim Bollan, Leven and Community Party councillor, added that it was a "race to the bottom from the SNP council who are determined to make all our services 'full cost recovery'".

He said: "Many of our services require to be subsidised. Libraries and leisure are only two of them and these should continue to be supported from the council tax."

Councillors agreed to find £130k in savings from community facilities back in March 2018.

A detailed analysis showed the 12 centres brought in more than £407k in 2018/19, for 634 opening hours a week. That works out as an average income of £12.85 an hour.

But the costs are almost £1.2million, leaving a loss of £766k last year. Almost £1m in costs comes from staffing.

The public were consulted first in August 2018, with 105 people turning up from 44 organisations. A total of 168 people responded to an online survey.

Council bosses said they were investing £5m across all their community centres, with £1m of that at Dalmuir Community Centre, £700k at the Denny Civic Theatre and almost £700k at Alexandria Community Centre.

West Dunbartonshire Council currently needs to save £9m on their budget for the coming year, assuming there is no Scottish Government bailout.