Aberdeenshire hikes council tax by 10%

Council tax in Aberdeenshire will rise by 10% and a number of cuts will be made as the council looks to fill a £30m financial black hole.

Councillors met at Woodhill House in Aberdeen on Thursday to set its budget for the year ahead.

Council leader Gillian Owen revealed the local authority was expected to spend around £1bn delivering essential services over the next 12 months.

However, the council administration put forward a “balanced package” of savings, cuts and increases in fees and charges, including a council tax rise.

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A nationwide freeze on the levy ends in April meaning local authorities can increase it by however much they like.

Mrs Owen admitted finding almost £15m of savings was “not an easy task” and changes had to be made to reflect Aberdeenshire’s changing population.

“The demography of Aberdeenshire is one where the child and working population is decreasing, in contrast to our pensionable population,” she explained.

“Those living in the region aged over 85 is projected to rise by 37% by 2030.

“That is a huge shift in the aging population who require different support from the council and care services.”

Councillor Owen mentioned the integration joint board, which oversees the region’s health and social care partnership.

She noted that Aberdeenshire Council and NHS Grampian are financially responsible for assisting it, with the council required to cover 43% of its costs.

If the partnership goes over its allocated budget, the local authority and health board share the cost of the financial gap.

The council leader noted that the partnership had large overspends over the last two years and had used up all of its reserves.

It is also facing a £26m overspend this year and is already forecast to be over by £17m next year.

Mrs Owen admitted the IJB was the local authority’s “biggest financial risk” but was still part of the team.

However, she warned that cuts were needed across the wider council to help fund its services.

“The need to find additional funding for the health and social care partnership will directly impact on council services,” she said.

“There is simply no way to find the extra money needed for care services in the next few years without going further and deeper into council cuts than ever before.”

The council leader suggested this could be prevented if the Scottish Government gave a much-needed cash injection or shifted cash allocation from education to care.

Meanwhile, council tax across the region will soar by 10%.

This would mean that those paying the lowest rates would get an extra £92.90 added to their annual bill.

Meanwhile, the yearly charge for a Band D property will jump from £1,393.42 to £1,532.76.

Mrs Owen warned the chamber that if no savings were made to balance the books, a 17% hike would have been needed.

She argued the increase was needed to cover the cost of changing demands on the council.

An 8% rise in council tax next year and the following year was also agreed.

But, support will be given to households who may struggle to pay for the additional charges.

Meanwhile, the council will press ahead with a number of previously proposed cuts and savings that had created some uproar ahead of the meeting.

This includes cutting nursery provision over holiday periods, axing meals and snacks in early learning settings, and hiking the price of school meals for P6 and P7 pupils.

Aberdeenshire Council will also end its contract with Homestart Garioch and pull all of its funding over the next three years.

This comes despite a last minute plea from charity boss Mhairi Philip who said the move would leave vulnerable families left struggling without help or support.

Another unpopular cut will see the council stop providing emergency sandbags and flood defences to communities at risk of flooding.

However, this will be phased out over the next three years to allow residents to find their own flooding protection measures.

Streetlights in residential areas across the region will also be switched off between 1-5am.

Infrastructure chairman Alan Turner explained the change was needed to make both carbon and financial savings.

He added: “We will review non-residential streetlights on some of our rural and public roads.

“While the proposal is for an all year round switch-off, we are mindful of circumstances such as night time economies of our busier towns, public CCTV areas and medical facilities.

“These will be taken into consideration as part of the proposal.”

The opposition put forward their own budget that included some new ideas and removing some cuts suggested by the administration.

SNP councillor Gwyneth Petrie read through the proposal that had an alternative 9% council tax increase, despite saying it was “a much higher rise than any of us would have liked.”

The plan also suggested the council should consider selling its Aberdeen headquarters, Woodhill House.

Councillor Petrie noted that the building currently gives the local authority a £650,000 headache every year.

And, the news a new tenant would not moving in led to the belief that filling the empty office space “seems almost impossible”.

Ms Petrie revealed it could take two years to move staff and equipment to other offices in the region and even said it could consider a “travelling council”.

This could see the local authority using academies for example, bringing democracy to young people.

The opposition also wanted to see the council create a new policy allowing it to seek sponsorships by promoting local businesses.

They reckon this could raise at least £40,000 in the next year but had the potential to increase “substantially” in the future.

Ms Petrie slammed the shocking cut to Homestart Garioch, saying the removal of the “relatively small” sum of money was “quite astounding”.

“To remove that as we continue to battle a cost of living crisis is unthinkable,” she added.

However there were some cuts the opposition agreed with.

One of which was cutting down on street lighting, but, they said this would have to be done with input from communities.

They also backed the closure of the council service points in Peterhead, Fraserburgh and Inverurie.

And, they didn’t want to see any cuts to grit bins quite yet.

Instead, members asked for communities to be more prepared before any bins are removed.

This included more residents willing to take on gritting responsibilities through the snow warden scheme.

Ms Petrie added: “This is the crunch year, we either change or we continue to spiral into more and more difficult decisions.”