Aberdeenshire Council’s co-leader has said the authority’s members have no illusions about the challenge they face in slashing £28million from the region’s budget.
The local authority’s representatives will convene at Woodhill House in Aberdeen today to sign off on a raft of cuts in an effort to balance their revenue budget.
The SNP-led administration has already published its proposed savings which include cutting £3.2million from education spending and £973,000 from the road maintenance fund – a reduction of nearly 6%.
And today, opposition groups will announce their own proposals to plug a multi-million-pound funding black hole in the wake of what they regard as a disappointing Scottish Government settlement.
The final agreement followed a provisional deal with the SNP administration at Holyrood for a reduced settlement of about £430million.
Although Aberdeenshire’s grant was cut by only 1.5% – the least of any authority in Scotland – the funding received by the north-east remains proportionally the third-lowest in the country.
Councillor Richard Thomson, co-leader of the authority, said: “We knew we were going to have to make some significant savings and since then we’ve had the local government settlement announced.
“That still left us with about £6million of savings to make but we’ve managed to do that through a combination of measures.”
Following the administration’s pre-budget announcement in November, which included proposals to sell off their Woodhill House HQ, the council carried out an unprecedented public consultation.
Last night, Mr Thomson said the engagement was “worthwhile”, and showed a “willingness” from residents to pay more for certain services, rather than losing them.
He added: “A lot of good work came out of this consultation, and a lot more will be done. It has been a thoroughly worthwhile exercise and I am pleased with the participation we had.”
Mr Thomson also said the traditional “theatre” of Aberdeenshire Council’s budget day when political groups clashed over spending priorities was part of democracy.
The Ellon councillor added: “In previous years, there were two budgets that were 99% identical and then there was a right rammy over £10m or so.
“Tomorrow, there will be significant areas of overlap, but there will also be significant areas of difference and I would expect people to make the most of that.
“That’s what the discussion and debate is about – you would never want that out of showpiece events like this, because that’s what democracy is about.”
However, Mr Thomson conceded there is a shared “realism” between the groups that savings must be made.