Aberdeen City Council could be billed for hundreds of thousands of pounds as a result of a decision to quit Scotland’s local government umbrella body.
It was claimed yesterday that a “turf war” is developing between the remaining 28 members of the national group and the four councils which have formed a new breakaway organisation.
Aberdeen was joined by Glasgow, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire in leaving the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) to form the new Scottish Local Government Partnership (SLGP).
The move followed a long-running power struggle and a row over the way in which funding is allocated to individual local authorities.
The Labour-led administration in Aberdeen believes it can negotiate a better deal for the city outwith Cosla.
But a leaked report to a Cosla leaders meeting taking place today shows that the organisation intends to take an aggressive stance by chasing the rebel councils for seven figure liabilities and hundreds of thousands of pounds for negotiating on its behalf.
There are also issues over the distribution of UK and Scottish government funding for shared services such as Trading Standards Scotland and the Business Gateway.
The report states: “Cosla must see the SLGP as a competitor organisation who will not always have the good of Cosla’s members at the front of their minds.”
It adds: “Leaders must decide what their attitude is to this area of work and to indicate whether they would be prepared to say to either the Westminster or Scottish Government or any other partner that they can either have Cosla representing 28 councils or the partnership representing four, but they cannot have both.”
However, the leaders of the other councils have been told the ultimate aim is to attract the rebel councils back.
City finance convener Willie Young said the authority had not yet received a bill from Cosla. He insisted that competition would be “a good thing”.
Mr Young added: “Cosla seem to want a turf war, but we don’t want a turf war.
“We can work together or work against each other if that’s what they want, but we have to act in the best interests of Aberdeen.”
Graham Dickson, spokesman for the SNP group, said: “What this shows is the folly of the administration’s decision as what’s happened is this new group of councils is going to be more expensive, more complicated and we will have less influence on less resources at our disposal.”