The leader of Aberdeenshire Council has set the stage for a bruising round of budget cuts – warning residents being spared a whopping 20% tax rise will leave communities paying the price with slashed services.
Gillian Owen said there would be “winners and losers” when yearly spending plans are formed next month.
So how much are they looking to save?
Currently, the local authority is looking at an overspend of £6.5 million.
But there’s more to it than that… The authority also needs to fund ailing health and social care services, and the local partnership covering the county is facing its own £26.2m black hole.
As Aberdeenshire Council needs to contribute 43% of its funding, that adds another £11m to its outgoings.
With this in mind, the council believes will accrue the equivalent of an £18m overdraft in 2025/26 – but this figure could increase yet.
Speaking to The Press and Journal, Gillian Owen admitted that setting the upcoming budget has been “tougher” than the last – when controversial cuts caused chaos.
What has been done to save crucial cash since last year?
This time last year, the local authority was facing a £35.45m black hole while battling a council tax freeze.
A number of cuts were made to claw back much-needed cash including axing school crossing patrollers and janitor posts, as well as closing service points.
But one year on, the council is faced with more financial woes – and fewer solutions to work with.
Mrs Owen explained: “Many councillors will talk about salami slicing, but there’s not much of the sausage left to actually slice.”
In a bid to address this, council teams were asked to move to essential spend just a few months ago.
And they searched every nook and cranny in a desperate bid to claw back pennies and pounds.
This meant that everything the local authority was paying for had to be looked at, leading to difficult cuts being made.
An example of this was the recent decision to stop presenting celebratory gifts of flowers and whisky to residents marking milestone birthdays and anniversaries.
However, taking this route seems to have had a positive impact as £4.2m has been saved since November.
Mrs Owen stressed: “That doesn’t mean to say we are out of the woods.”
Will any help be provided from Holyrood?
The council leader also revealed that Aberdeenshire is due to get more financial aid from the Scottish Government than it was expecting.
While this is a positive outcome, she explained that the money may not be available for protecting council services as Holyrood chiefs rule on what certain sums must be spent on.
She said: “It more or less nets out when you take into account the ring-fenced ways we’re expected to spend it.
“It isn’t necessarily cash we have got to spend, it’s cash that we pass forward.”
Mrs Owen explained that Aberdeenshire Council is the fourth worst underfunded local authority in Scotland.
She also suggested that if it received the national average, it would get enough money to wipe out its deficit.
But despite the extra financial boost, the council leader issued a stark warning to residents across the region.
“There will be some winners and some losers, and obviously the losers won’t want to miss out and they will want to keep digging their heels in,” she said.
“Things are tough and I suspect it will remain that way for quite some time.
“We do not have the money to do everything people think we should do or perhaps, what we have done in the past.
“Things will have to stop and that’s the focus.”
Will there be a council tax hike?
While Mrs Owen wasn’t willing to confirm any potential cuts or savings, there was one thing she was happy to reveal.
“We’re not going to raise council tax by 20%,” she confirmed.
Her admission came after it was reported that a “super hike” was due to hit residents across the region.
The council leader also wanted to “disperse a myth” about raising council tax by 17%.
She explained the figure was put in budget papers last year but it was purely based on plugging the financial gap without making any cuts or savings.
And while the council tax level has yet to be determined, feedback from residents could help to make the decision easier.
Mrs Owen revealed: “Of those who responded to the budget engagement, 54% said they could manage a 5% rise, 25% said they’d manage 10% rise.
“That is a steering figure for us but it can’t be the be all and end all because bottom line, we need to balance our books.”
Councillors will discuss and set its budget for 2025/26 on February 20.
Read more:
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- Aberdeenshire Council to stop giving whisky as a gift as it’s ‘not a good look’
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