Angry Aberdeen council leaders have claimed new figures show the city is in line for a funding cut of more than £40million from the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Local Government Partnership, a break away group of Labour councils who left the main Cosla body, say the four local authorities face a spending gap of £183 million next year.
The SLGP which represents Aberdeen, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire, said the projected gap for 2017-18 was calculated from the reduction in the overall grant plus “additional cost pressures”.
According to the figures Aberdeen is facing a cut of £44million.
And SLGP convener and Aberdeen City Council leader Jenny Laing accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of “Scrooge economics” as she writes the budgets for councils over the festive period.
She said: “As the annual merry-go-round of Tory-style austerity cuts to local authority budgets spins on for the next five years, we could be facing a total spending gap of £1billion by 2020-21.
“The SNP Government is passing down historic cuts to councils and communities without any meaningful discussion and that means the axe falling on jobs and services, impacting on the very poorest in our society.”
Glasgow council leader Frank McAveety revealed the extent of the projected budget shortfall for SLGP councils in evidence to MSPs yesterday at the Local Government and Communities Committee in Holyrood.
But the Scottish Government dismissed the claims.
A spokeswoman for Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “It is the SNP Government which has been delivering for the likes of Glasgow and Aberdeen through our investment in city deals and other key infrastructure spending, despite Tory cuts from Westminster.
“And we will continue to deliver for all of Scotland’s communities – while Mr McAveety has indicated he would rather local funding was in the hands of a hard-right, Brexit-obsessed Tory government.”
