Residents in the north-east are facing a rise in council tax after a new budget was narrowly agreed by Aberdeenshire Council.
The SNP-led administration’s plan will see rates rise by 2.5% following a nine-year freeze across all bands.
Due to a lower Scottish Government funding settlement, the council were tasked with finding £24 million of savings for the coming financial year – although the opposition Alliance group did propose an alternative budget to meet the deficit without raising council tax rates.
After two hours of debate, councillors voted to narrowly approve the proposals by 33 votes to 32.
The move comes after a change to the Scottish Government’s own budget plans that could see an additional £8 million of funding allocated to the local authority to lessen the blow of business rates rises.
Co-leader of the council Richard Thomson told fellow members he hoped to use the extra cash to ease the impact of the rises on the region.
Speaking last night, he said: “After nine years, the time is right to look again at the council tax.
“We’ve put that 2.5% proposal there. Inevitably, some services are going to be delivered in a different way, but this is a budget that strikes the best balance between competing tensions.”