MORE than half of Scots believe that council tax bills should rise by more than the current maximum to help fund cash-strapped local authorities, a new poll has revealed.

The Herald readership poll shows that 53 per cent of those surveyed think that council tax should be hiked by more than 5%.

It also found more than 82% believe that councils are under-funded and comes at a time when local authorities are slashing services to fund a multi-million pound shortfall in budgets.

But the polls also shows just 11% think councils should be the number one spending priority of the Scottish Government, while two-thirds think it should be health and 60% education.

Improving transport, in particular the ferry network, is the next biggest spending priority, according to the readers panel.

The survey comes as local authority bosses call for the power to generate “taxation without restrictions” in a bid to get more funding.

Councils say this would help tackle Scotland’s “dreadful” roads and fund a social care “ticking time-tomb”.

Council chiefs believe a £95m hole in their core budgets being plugged in a deal between the SNP Government and Greens is merely a “starter”, and that authorities are still £117m short for capital projects in 2020/21.

Cosla, the umbrella organisation for Scottish councils, is drawing up plans for a new funding model for local government where authorities could generate money from local taxes without having to obtain permission and legislation from Holyrood.

The thinking is to “ensure local government is empowered to deploy resources locally without government restriction”.

The proposals, yet to be agreed by council leaders or considered by Holyrood ministers, include a set-up where “councils would have the ability to raise their own revenue” and have the “freedom to explore and implement discretionary taxes”.

The new funding streams could include revenue from income tax and VAT, and local elements of national taxes such as landfill tax and the land and buildings transaction tax.

Under the proposals, councils could be able to introduce new local charges, going beyond the current workplace parking levy and tourist tax.

A new framework could be in place for the next parliament, but is likely to involve “incremental steps” to be implemented.

The Scottish Government said it would not welcome the radical tax plans.

The plans are intended to address an “unsustainable” system which forces councils to make savings from their core budgets then hike council tax in a bid to mitigate the cuts.

Between 2013-14 and 2019-20, total revenue funding for local authorities has fallen by 6% in real terms.

The Accounts Commission has warned that Scottish councils need “to think differently about how they deliver and fund services” and face “an increasingly complex, changing and uncertain time ahead”.

Gail Macgregor, Cosla’s resources spokeswoman, said years of under-investment in local councils was now taking its toll on frontline services.

She said: “Investments in roads infrastructure, 10 years ago, might have been a priority – but that budget has decreased. We can see it from the state of the roads – it’s no question that the state of the roads is dreadful.

“To reverse that, we need additional investment and that’s what we are not seeing. Not only are we at a standstill now, but if we don’t start to address a lot of the under-investment in infrastructure due to previous cuts, which we acknowledge were part of the austerity agenda, in five years’ time, what state will our roads be in? What state will our social care delivery be in? We need additional money to almost catch up with all the cuts that have been previously made as well.

“The reality is that demand is changing – social care is a prime example, it’s a proper ticking time bomb.”

Some of Scotland’s most vulnerable are among those being hit by the “draconian” savings being made to fill a £300 million budget black hole.

As the first councils either set out their cuts proposals or approve them, it has emerged that budgets supporting pupils with additional support needs and those adults needing social care are being hit hardest.

The developments have caused concern among charities and bodies supporting some of Scotland’s most at-risk groups.

Of 16 local authorities who have divulged their spending plans, all but three are either planning or have made cuts affecting children with additional needs, with conditions which can range from having a physical disability and having communication difficulties to being affected by bullying, autism, dyslexia and mental health problems.

Up to £6.5m in cuts are either being planned or have been approved by the councils with savings ranging from £101,000 to nearly £2m.

Tory MSP Graham Simpson said: “Councils are increasingly being asked to do more and more for less and less.

“The cracks are starting to show and it can’t continue.”

Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “Councils are the biggest losers in this year’s Scottish budget. They have been left to carry the can and pass on cuts to communities or raise council tax to prevent vital services being lost.”

Green MSP Andy Wightman said: “It is depressing that over 20 years of devolution we have not yet abolished the regressive council tax.”

The Scottish Government said it “does not support a blanket power for local authorities to introduce new taxes”, but was working on “greater devolution” of powers to councils, including local tax reforms.