The leader of Moray Council is bracing himself for “fiery” scenes when the authority sets its budget for the new financial year today.
Stewart Cree admitted that unpopular cuts would need to be pushed through to address the authority’s current financial problems.
The ruling administration has tabled measures which include slashing spending on roads maintenance and increasing council tax by 3%, to help collect £12million.
Mr Cree has been locked in negotiations with his colleagues this week, while the Independent and Tory-led group attempt to fine-tune their financial plan, in advance of the meeting.
Last night, the council boss confirmed that some slight changes had been made to the plan put forward last week.
But he maintained the administration’s package of “difficult” proposals were the only way to keep the authority from going bankrupt by the end of 2018.
And he blamed a lack of Scottish Government funding for forcing his group into cutting spending on areas they would rather preserve.
Mr Cree said: “This is not the budget we would want to put forward, as we have had to put so much focus on savings.
“Moray Council is one of the most under-funded authorities in Scotland, per head of population, and that makes some of our decisions a fait accompli as we can only think about where to cut.
“Without drastically changing our spending patterns, we will run out of money in September 2018, and that needs to be kept in mind.
“But, of course, it will be a fiery meeting, I expect it will be difficult.”
He added: “We have made some small changes, but nothing groundbreaking.
“The reasons for them will be explained during the meeting, and some will bring in additional funding.”
The administration also intends to employ more than £7million from reserves to fill the budget gap.
A spokesman for Moray Council’s SNP opposition group yesterday confirmed its members would stick by an alternative series of proposals put forward last week.
The spokesman added he also expected the summit to be “fiery”.
Nationalist councillors have suggested trimming £500,000 from the wages of senior staff to help save a further £1million.
The Scottish Government has argued local councils were “treated very fairly” in its budget earlier this month.