Charity Moray Women’s Aid is one of the potential victims in new cuts proposed by the council to balance the budget.
About £100,000 worth of cuts will be put to councillors next week as the final phase of £2.2million worth of savings.
The possible moves include reducing the annual subsidy to Moray Leisure Centre, which remains owned by the council but run by an independent company, by £60,000 due to increased usage and charging SQA music tuition to individual school budgets, which will save £9,000.
Meanwhile, charity Moray Women’s Aid may also have its homelessness allocation contract reduced by £32,000 – a move that would mean the withdrawal of its overnight helpline and a reduction in support hours.
Yesterday manager Elle Johnston revealed use of the service continue to increase with two referrals a day during February – following record numbers of 582 women and 114 children during 2019.
Mrs Johnston said: “We have got a very good relationship with the council but of course we are upset about the money being reduced.
“We’re no different from anyone else though and we have to look at the project to see what we can cut down on.
“It’s a substantial cut that we’re anticipating but we have looked at the things that will have the least impact.
“We are going to look at a community campaign to raise funds. We operate from a community building that supports women and children so we would like it to be a community response.”
Councillors will meet on Tuesday to debate the proposed savings during a full council meeting.
The new savings include a further £96,000 of cuts from next year’s budget, including a further £10,000 from Moray Women’s Aid and a £75,000 review of mental health support arrangements.
A report prepared for the meeting explained discussions were held with Moray Women’s Aid ahead of the proposed contract change.