North and north-east councils have accused the Scottish Government of using “smoke and mirrors” to hide swingeing cuts to local authorities.
Local authority administration leaders in Moray, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire slammed the budget as “bad news” for their local area.
But the SNP’s Aberdeenshire Council co-leader Richard Thomson insisted the budget was “well-thought out”.
Moray Council leader Stewart Cree condemned the announcements as doing nothing to help the authority’s perilous financial state.
He said: “There are a number of things in there to sweeten the pill.
“But it will only get us back to more or less where we are already financially.
“We could be as much as £1million worse off.”
Jenny Laing, leader of Aberdeen City Council said the budget was “bad news” for the Granite City.
She added: “Aberdeen remains the lowest-funded council in Scotland and as a result we require a subsidy of £10million just to get us to the 85% minimum funding floor.
“Derek Mackay has used smoke and mirrors to try and disguise the SNP’s slash and burn economic strategy.
“There is no initiative, no imagination, no smart economics with this Budget. The SNP has just clobbered the tier of government which is closest to the people of Scotland, so it is plain to see who will suffer most.”
The SNP’s Mr Thomson was more upbeat about the budget.
He said: “This is a well-thought out budget, which makes good use of the resources available to government, and which makes good resources available to local government to deliver vital services, without shirking the need to continue seeking further efficiencies and reforms.”
But Aberdeenshire Council co-leader Alison Evison said: “In Aberdeenshire, Scottish Labour campaigned strongly for council tax collected here to be spent here. I therefore welcome the Scottish Government’s U-turn on this principle of local democracy, although councils should be free to set their own council tax levels. Today’s change in council tax policy will bring some benefits to our area.
“However this budget does still mean an overall £350 million revenue cut for local government. This will have effects on Aberdeenshire Council’s budget and there will be challenging choices to make with regard to public services for our communities.”
