A group of north-east councillors have called for an increase in council tax to help tackle the local authority’s £26million budget deficit.
Aberdeenshire’s Democratic Independent and Green Group (DIGG) yesterday announced their backing for a 3% rise in council tax, the maximum increase that an authority can make.
The group said the move would protect “vital” public services. Council tax rates in Scotland have been frozen for nearly a decade, but local authorities now have the power to increase rates by up to 3%.
It has been estimated Aberdeenshire councillors will have to slash £26million from the region’s budget next year.
Last night, DIGG councillor, Martin Ford, said: “After many years of cuts, the priority has to be protecting the services people need. The council must do everything in its power to maintain the range of essential services it provides for residents.”
His colleague, Paul Johnston, added: “Given inflation, the freeze in the council tax was a real-terms tax cut. And it’s lasted now for nine years. Clearly, services have to be paid for, so the freeze can’t just go on.
“For every 1% increase in the council tax, the council can avoid cutting a million pounds from its spending on services.”
For a Band D property, for instance, the current council tax is £1,141 per year. A 3% increase would be £34.23, or nearly 10p per day.
However, council chiefs have yet to take a position on the proposals. Co-leader and SNP councillor Richard Thomson welcomed last week’s budget and insisted public consultation was important.
He said: “We are currently taking the views of our residents across a range of potential budget choices through our budget consultation process.
“This includes potential council tax increases after recent years of keeping rates frozen.
“There is still a lot of detail to work through which makes it too early to say whether we will propose a council tax rise or not.”
Fellow co-leader and Labour councillor, Alison Evison, added: “In order to sustain the services that residents across Aberdeenshire are telling us that they want, we will need to remain open to increasing the council tax locally.
“Final decisions on this do not need to be made until February.”
The leaders of the opposition Alliance group are still considering the detail of the budget. They are due to meet today.
