The new leader of Aberdeenshire Council says he has not forgotten about the north-east’s “missing £23million” which he claims is owed following the business rates row.
Conservative chief Jim Gifford, returning to the top spot in the authority’s leadership two years after he was ousted by the SNP, has said his administration will push for a fairer system.
At a council meeting in March, when pressure was building on Scottish finance secretary Derek Mackay, Mr Gifford and his party colleagues revealed that the north-east collected £116million in business rates last year, but is only getting £93million back in a grant settlement.
The revelation came as many firms were facing dramatic and controversial rises in their bills.
Last night Mr Gifford said: “When we got out of the meeting we wrote to Derek Mackay asking if we could please have our money back.
“Surprise surprise, he replied saying it’s all mixed up in the total settlement and you’re getting all you’re getting.”
Mr Gifford – who is leading a coalition administration with the Liberal Democrats and six independent councillors – said there is something “fundamentally not right” about handing over more taxes than are sent back by Holyrood.
“We know – as with the council tax – if you get it with one hand they take it away with the other. But we’re pushing on the fundamental principle that taxes collected locally should be spent locally, not taken centrally and distributed how they see fit.”
He claimed Aberdeenshire is the third worst funded authority in Scotland and is not receiving its fair share.
But last night Mr Mackay hit back again, reiterating his message from March that councils do keep their collected taxes.
“Each local authority retains every penny of business rates it collects,” the finance secretary said.
“Aberdeenshire Council is therefore guaranteed to keep every penny of business rates income collected in 2017-18.
This will be supplemented by general revenue grant to ensure the council receives its full share of the local government finance settlement, which is guaranteed each year by the Scottish Government.”
