A cash-strapped council will have to find £20million to balance the books over the next year.
Aberdeenshire Council’s finance chiefs have revealed the eye-watering sum ahead of the authority’s budget meeting next month.
Last year the council confirmed it would have to make £50m in cuts over the next five years to keep its accounts in the black.
Council leader Jim Gifford said the authority was “between a rock and a hard place” as it attempted to save cash while also maintaining public services.
He said: “It is not an easy time for local government and certainly not an easy time for Aberdeenshire.
“The Scottish Government’s draft budget means that we will continue to be the third lowest funded council in Scotland at a time when we are facing serious pressures, increasing demand for services and a local economy that is not in a good place.
“For all the positive talk from the finance secretary, we are facing a cut in cash terms of almost £3m. In addition we have identified over £20m of budgetary pressures that have to be addressed, ranging from inflation, increased demand for many of the services we provide and a population in Aberdeenshire that is continuing to grow.”
Mr Gifford has said that Mr Mackay’s scrapping of the council tax freeze “makes the assumption” that authorities will increase the levy by the maximum 3% and their overall grant has been reduced as a result.
He added: “We will have to decide whether to increase council tax or make yet further savings to plug the gap that has been created for us. It is what is known as being between a rock and a hard place.”
