Aberdeenshire Council has created an online budget-setting simulator to help residents tell councillors how they would handle the authority’s finances.
The council’s “Budget Challenge” tasks participants with allocating £565 million across all of its services, from primary school education to bin collection.
But if users don’t put enough money into certain areas, they receive warnings of the potential impacts they could cause – such as the closure of key bridges and roads there is not enough infrastructure investment.
A special alert will sound when they successfully manage to balance the budget – but if they can’t make ends meet, participants can also choose to increase council tax.
Aberdeenshire Council aims to pass the results of the challenge to members, so they can use the data to inform part of the real-wold budget setting process for the next financial year.
Council leader Jim Gifford said: “What makes this online tool so useful for us is that it will help the wider Aberdeenshire population make their views known around our budget discussions.
“When we meet later this year, and again in February, we will be faced with difficult decisions which we need to take in the interests of Aberdeenshire as a whole.
“This simulator will help ensure that the voice of residents and businesses across Aberdeenshire can be part of that decision-making process.”
To take part in the simulator, visit https://budget.aberdeenshire.gov.uk
