AI-Powered Perth: Smart Savings for Stronger Communities.

This idea proposes a comprehensive, forward-thinking approach to balancing the Perth and Kinross Council budget for 2026/2027 and beyond. It combines targeted efficiencies in discretionary areas (such as council-run events, cultural subsidies, certain leisure operations, business support grants, and physical office access) with reinvestment in high-priority frontline services like social care for an ageing population, education modernisation, and opportunities for young people. To generate new income without broadly burdening residents, it advocates introducing a Visitor Levy on overnight stays, increasing user fees for optional services like garden waste collection, and expanding community asset transfers for ongoing cost reductions.

The standout element is the deep, strategic integration of artificial intelligence across council operations to deliver £1-2 million in annual efficiencies while enhancing service quality. This builds directly on the council's existing £750,000 investment in AI over two years (approved in the 2025/2026 budget), which already challenges officers to achieve an extra £1 million in savings by year three through AI-driven productivity. Specific AI applications include predictive maintenance for roads and buildings, automated administrative tasks (e.g., processing applications and queries via chatbots), early intervention analytics in social care to prevent crises, dynamic pricing for tourism-related fees, and personalised community engagement tools.

Perth and Kinross faces intense financial pressures: rising health and social care costs from an ageing population (with significant growth projected in over-65s and complex needs), inflation across services, and the need to protect vulnerable residents while avoiding job cuts—all within limited Scottish Government funding. The provisional plan assumes a council tax increase (recently adjusted toward 7.5% for 2026/2027), but residents seek moderation without deep service reductions.

This idea matters because it offers a sustainable path forward: it protects and strengthens core services aligned with the council's vision of a poverty- and inequality-free Perth and Kinross, empowers communities through partnerships and digital tools, and harnesses AI not as a cost-cutting gimmick but as a transformative enabler—amplifying the council's ongoing AI commitment to deliver real efficiencies, better predictive planning, and improved outcomes. By reallocating savings and new income (e.g., from a Visitor Levy potentially worth millions), it enables meaningful investment in social care, education, and youth without relying solely on tax hikes. In a time of tight budgets, this innovative, resident-focused strategy ensures long-term fiscal resilience, equitable service delivery, and progressive leadership for our communities.