Scott Begbie: Councillor’s 22% wage increase makes me sick when so many services are under threat and tax bills are rising

And with an almighty thud, my council tax bill for the next year arrived through the letterbox, heavily laden with portents of doom.

Sure, you can tut at the idea of Aberdeenshire Council slapping up their demands with menaces by 10%, but it’s only when you see it in black and white you realise exactly what our glorious leaders have done.

I won’t be the only one to have looked at the bottom line and said: “How much… are you having a laugh?”

Wouldn’t be so bad if the double-digit increase came with a promise of all the brilliant new things they were going to do with my hard-earned cash. Goodbye potholes, hello schools with all the equipment and staff they need.

But, nah, it’s just a constant litany of cutting this, stopping that, reducing over there and scrimping here. And, as always, it’s the vulnerable, elderly, disabled and sick who are getting screwed over the most.

You just need to read the headlines in this august organ to see the fear and misery ordinary people are facing as a result of these “hard but unavoidable choices.”

The familiar question from the powers-that-be to those opposing swingeing clawbacks is: “We need to save money, so what would you cut instead?”

How about the 22% increase in salary every councillor in Aberdeenshire (more for the high heid-yins) are going to trouser from next Tuesday along with every other councillor in Scotland?

And, yes, that includes the councils talking about making job cuts or threatening to fire and rehire their loyal staff who won’t accept a reduction in hours and pay (yeah, looking at you Aberdeen).

What, you didn’t know the masters of our destiny are about to get a pay hike of getting on for about a quarter of their existing salaries – up from £21,345 to £25,982 – for your common or garden part-time politician? Aye, they’re keeping that quiet.

And don’t give me the line about “that was decided at a central level, separate from the jurisdiction of councils”. A big boy gave me money and ran away, doesn’t cut it.

Now, it must be said, the vast majority of councillors right across Scotland work hard at a thankless task (even if there are far too many of them and party politics has no place at a municipal level).

But let’s be clear, those making the cuts keep telling us these are tough times that need tough choices. Councillors in charge of local authorities across Scotland are inflicting pain on ordinary people, wringing their hands and saying there is nothing they can do in the face of (insert someone else to blame here)

But if you are voting through these savage cuts in services and double digit increases in tax rates, how about refusing the double digit pay hike – even if just for this “very challenging” year – and putting it to frontline services to help those in need instead?

Or is the whole pantomime about being forced to make painful choices only something you pay lip service to when it’s other people feeling the pain of your choices?

Scott Begbie is a journalist and editor, as well as PR and comms manager for Aberdeen Inspired.