Aberdeen council chiefs will be left with £1.6million less than expected in their coffers this year after a Holyrood accountancy error, it was claimed last night.
A policy is in place where if a council’s funding is less than 85% of the Scottish average funding for a council then the sum is “topped-up” by the Scottish Government to meet the sum.
Aberdeen is the only council that requires the floor funding.
Last night council leaders said they had calculated that they had received 84.69%- meaing a shortfall of £1.6million which could be spent on services.
But the Scottish Government said that the formula meant an extra £8.7million than if the 85% policy did not exist.
Correspondence seen by the Press and Journal, from finance secretary Derek Mackay to council co-leaders Douglas Lumsden and Jenny Laing, states: “Are (you) seriously suggesting that I reduce the 31 other local authorities to provide Aberdeen City Council with extra funding especially now when all 32 local authorities have set their council tax levels for next year.”
But council co-leader Douglas Lumsden said that it was a “miscalculation” by number crunchers in Edinburgh that would leave the city lacking millions.
He said: “From reading the response the government are basically admitting that we won’t get our 85% floor and saying ‘tough’.
“This is not extra funding we are looking for, this is the amount we have been promised. We are the only council so poorly funded that we require the floor in the first place.
“With £1.6million we would be able to spend more on the areas people want us to – social work, roads and that sort of thing.
“I think it is completely out of order.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Aberdeen City Council will receive over £354 million in 2018-19, £3.9 million more than in 2017-18.
“This funding includes an extra £8.7million over and above their funding formula share as a result of the 85% funding floor introduced by the Scottish Government resulting in a real terms increase in funding for day-to-day services.
“Aberdeen City Council has benefitted by over £50 million as a result of the 85% funding floor since its introduction by the Scottish Government in 2012.”
