A former Kirkcudbright provost has raised concerns over the future of the town’s common good fund.
A sub committee consisting of councillors and community councillors makes decisions on grant applications from organisations looking for support from the fund.
But Douglas Swan is concerned they are not being provided with the necessary information by the council which is in charge of administering the fund.
Mr Swan, who used to sit on the common good sub committee, said: “Dumfries and Galloway finance department seem to have lost or be unable to furnish crucial information regarding the fund.
“No one seems to know what the value of the common good property portfolio is.
“Those who are tasked with approving grants are unable to discover how much is available to disburse and no single person in Dumfries and Galloway Council finance department seems to have any knowledge of the workings of the fund or its current value.”
Mr Swan has monitoring accounts from 2006 showing the total value of the fund was more than £1.1 million – but claims a similar figure is unavailable today.
And he reckons the time could be right for the town to look after the fund – consisting of investments, land and properties such as the Tolbooth Arts Centre – itself.
He said: “The danger from the confusion over what assets belong to these common good funds is resulting in some assets being sold off.
“Once these assets are lost, they are lost forever.
“Those who have been tasked with looking after the common good fund on behalf of the people of Kirkcudbright are not receiving the information they are entitled to have and therefore are unable to administer or oversee the fund properly or correctly.
“Public confidence that their fund is being looked after is diminished.”
Current Kirkcudbright Provost Lesley Garbutt confirmed there had been issues obtaining information.
She said: “One of our community councillors is a retired chartered accountant and has his finger on the pulse on these things.
“He is very unhappy about the way information is being presented and is worried it is not being provided to trustees to allow them to make decisions, to the extent he has written to communities director Derek Crichton about it.”
Local councillor Jane Maitland believed the problem stemmed from the authority introducing a new, uniform template which was “not comprehensible to the public” making it difficult to track what funds were coming in and out.
She was hopeful that a meeting between members and finance officials will help solve the problem.
The council did not respond to a request for comment.
