Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Single Aberdeen ward to pay as much extra council tax hike as whole of Dundee

Rubislaw Terrace
Rubislaw Terrace

A single ward in Aberdeen will pay almost as much in extra council tax as the whole of Dundee.

Around 30,000 properties in the city will be affected by the Scottish Government decision to raise council tax on Band E-H homes.

In total, the extra tax burden on the Granite City for 2017-18 is estimated at £5.8million.

But Hazlehead, Ashley and Queen’s Cross will account for about £1.6million of that figure. And the Lower Deeside ward will contribute more than £1.2million.

Meanwhile, the extra contribution for every ward in Dundee will be just £1.87million.

The increases for Bands E, F, G and H homes in Aberdeen are all the highest affecting any local authority area in Scotland, with the average bill for a Band H home in the city rising by £550 a year.

The extra costs, which are due to come into force in April, follow a tough city council budget where council chiefs had to save more than £17.5million following a Scottish Government cut to the council’s grant.

For the first time in nine years, councils were given the power to raise rates by up to 3%. But the ruling Labour-led administration in Aberdeen declined to do so.

CouncilTax

Ross Thomson, Conservative MSP for the north-east and councillor for Hazlehead, Ashley and Queen’s Cross, said: “These figures illustrate once again the extent to which the SNP’s council tax grab disproportionately hits this area.

“After a nine-year council tax freeze, people will not object to paying a little bit more, provided they see improvement in local services.

“However, the bill for my own ward alone is a staggering £1.6million. This comes while the SNP government is cutting funding for Aberdeen in real terms by nearly £15million.”

Council leader Jenny Laing said: “It’s ridiculous the Scottish Government can level such an increase on a local tax when councils don’t want to level it.

“As we have pointed out many times before, Aberdeen is disproportionately under-funded and over-taxed.”

A Scottish Government spokesman responded: “The decision on whether to increase, freeze or reduce council tax is a matter for the local authorities, but the freeze instigated by this administration has saved the average Band D household around £1,500 in total.

“In terms of funding for Aberdeen, we are helping deliver the Aberdeen City Deal and an additional £254 million of Scottish Government investment on top of it.”