Disadvantaged north-east youngsters could be priced out of music lessons after the council agreed to slash spending by a staggering £600,000.
The local authority met today to decide its budget for the year ahead – agreeing a series of cuts to plug a £14.6 million funding gap.
Voluntary redundancies will be rolled out to recoup £1m, among a string of measures deisgned to help the council cope following a rocky few years.
And the education budget will be cut by more than £2.2m after the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and independent administration’s proposals were voted through.
How will schools be affected by Aberdeenshire budget?
A new “hybrid model” for music tuition, with fewer teachers carrying out lessons, will save £600,000.
The huge cut was agreed despite warnings about the impact on children from poorer backgrounds.
Council officers confirmed it will mean “fewer pupils being able to continue onto SQA attainment” and “fewer opportunities for children who live in areas of deprivation”.
It will also mean youngsters won’t be transported to music centres set up in Fraserburgh, Inverurie, Stonehaven, Mintlaw and Westhill schools.
Papers outlining the impact of the move state: “There may be an inability for pupils to purchase their own instrument.”
But it adds: “Encouraging families that can afford to purchase their own can leave stock availability for free loan.”
Officers also say a benefit is that digital tuition “has the potential to be delivered from any location”.
Hammer blow for school budgets
Meanwhile, spending on admin support in primary schools will be trimmed by £66,000 and the removal of a cluster principal teacher role serving multiple schools will save £64,000.
A 1% cut to the devolved budgets of all primary schools will claw back £225,000 and similar cuts to secondary schools will save £264,000.
What else will be cut?
Elsewhere, £1m will be clawed back with voluntary severance scheme – though council leader Andy Kille stressed that this would avoid the hardship of compulsory job losses.
Local authority travel budgets will be scaled back by £961,000 amid an overall £5.2m of corporate savings.
Spending on countryside paths is being reduced by £30,000 and an assistant post at the Bennachie Visitor Centre will be axed to save £19,000.
Meanwhile, a controversial change to three-weekly bin collections agreed recently will save £250,000.
And Police Scotland will be hit with a £75,000 rent increase for sharing space at the council’s Buchan House office in Peterhead.
But in some welcome news for residents, the council agreed a one-off £1m boon for parks and open spaces, burial grounds, and road safety schemes.
‘Incompetent’ council tax freeze plea
The local authority’s three members of the Alba Party put forward an alternative budget which threatened to waylay the meeting.
Fraserburgh councillor Brian Topping proposed freezing council tax, while taking an extra £4.57m from reserves to make up for the shortfall.
Referencing The Beatles, who played in his hometown in their formative years, Mr Topping said this could offer locals the financial help they need.
He said: “In these tough and challenging economic times, and with the hardship faced by our constituents, a song comes to mind, ‘With a Little Help From Our Friends’.
“And, of course, the friends are the Alba Party.”
But their attempts to fix a hole in the council’s finances fell victim to rules that decisions made within a six-month window can not be undone.
As the 3% council tax rise was agreed to recoup £3.76m in late February, this meant their budget was ruled “incompetent”.
And the party was left as something of a lonely hearts club when they were soundly outvoted on a bid to lift those rules.
Despite acknowledging that the group’s bill “obviously wouldn’t win”, Mr Topping fumed about “being silenced”.
Our table shows how the 3% rise will affect residents:
Aberdeenshire budget could be squeezed further in future
Members heard that, across the next five years, they could be facing some tough decisions – with various much-needed services in jeopardy.
Head of finance, Mary Beattie, warned that the council could be facing a funding gap of £48m.
The authority’s deputy leader was moved to utter a Shakespearean soliloquy when considering the bleak financial future.
Peter Argyle said the “grim” outlook was enough to make “each particular hair to stand an end, like quills upon the fretful porpentine”.
It is a line from Hamlet, written about 420 years before today’s budget talks.
What did they say?
In proposing his budget at the meeting, Mr Kille justified the council tax increase.
He said: “I appreciate that this comes at a time when everyone is feeling the pressure of rising costs.
“We will do everything we can to reduce costs and protect services as far as we can, to limit the impact for residents.”
Should council have raided savings to bridge Aberdeenshire budget gaps?
Leader of the SNP group, Gwyneth Petire, presented an alternative financial plan on behalf of the Partnership group.
It outlined a vision for more community cafes, and the business-boosting “fiver-fest” initiative being spread out across more north-east town centres.
She also suggested dipping deeper into the council’s reserves, using £4.8m to plug funding gaps as opposed to the administration’s £3.8m.
Ms Petrie said: “I fully understand that it is prudent for us to hold some reserves.
“But it is very hard to justify making any savings or cuts to service delivery when we hold the level we do.
“We are in unprecedented times, and it is therefore my strong belief that now is the time to use reserves.”
The administration budget was passed by 36 votes to 15.
Council tax 2022-23: How your charges compare with the rest of Scotland