CUTS of more than £4 million and the loss of 90 jobs have been tabled by Inverclyde Council bosses to help balance the books.

Some 4,000 local authority staff were yesterday told where the axe may fall as officials attempt to plug a £3.4m funding gap next year following successive government budget reductions.

A range of proposals have been put forward and, although not all of the savings will be actioned, the hit list suggests the closure of facilities like Greenock's South West Library, the Princes Street House customer service centre in Port Glasgow and the end of free swimming for under-16s, supported study in secondary schools and no more subsidies for U19 sports clubs.

As well as cuts to jobs and services, the council has also suggested increasing or introducing a number of charges to help raise money, including a £30 fee for household garden waste collections, paying to park at six local authority car parks which are currently free, a £1-a-day charge for school breakfast clubs and the much-debated council tax increase of between three and 4.79 per cent.

In a memo to staff, council chief executive Aubrey Fawcett said: "Many of these savings will not be new, the corporate management team and councillors have been examining every area of previously examined but rejected savings to try to plug the budget gap.

"No decision has been taken at this stage to take the savings outlined or on whether the council is likely to increase its council tax charges."

As revealed by the Tele on Tuesday, Inverclyde Leisure have also suggested closing Gourock historic outdoor pool to plug their own funding gap should councillors decide to slash the amount paid to the organisation for running council-owned facilities.

Local authority officials are proposing to cut the IL management fee by £359,000, which could in a number of leisure services being 'reduced or closed' and is 'likely to affect staffing levels' - on top of the 90 council 'full time equivalents' who are already facing redundancy.

The council has also suggested cutting funding for employability schemes run by Inverclyde Community Development Trust - The Trust - by £377,000, or 15 per cent, which could result in the loss of 11 jobs.

Community wardens are also under the microscope with a quarter of staff potentially being laid off.

The council would save £178,000 by reducing the current service and making seven employees redundant.

One of the biggest areas that could be hit is school cleaning, with proposals to bin almost 23 staff to claw back £374,000.

A number of teaching, non-teaching, library, school music instructors, grounds maintenance and roads repairs staff could also lose their jobs.

The severity of the cuts depends on how much councillors decide to increase the council tax by next year.

Local authority leader Stephen McCabe says his own Labour group is reluctantly in favour of the full 4.79 per cent, which would raise an additional £525,000 and leave £2m of savings to be made.

Such an increase would mean an annual hike of £39 - or 76p a week - for households on the lowest banding, Band A, and £145 a year, equivalent to £2.79 per week, for those at the other end of the scale on Band H.

A three per cent rise would mean an extra £25 a year - 47p each week - for Band A properties and £91 for people on Band H, which is a weekly increase of £1.74.

Councillor McCabe said: "The council, like every council in Scotland, is facing tough choices, that's the simple fact of life. "We'll have to cut services, jobs, charge more for services and put up council tax. "The decision we have to make by next Thursday is how much we have to put council tax up by. "Putting it up is the 'lesser of two evils' and we're prepared to do that than cut jobs and services."

Councillors will decide on the council tax for 2019/20 next Thursday.

The budget will be set at a meeting on March 21.