ABERDEEN City Council officials are today reported to be campaigning for a 10% increase in council tax – as the local authority toils to balance the books.
Leaked briefings prepared ahead of next month’s budget meeting show finance chiefs think it could raise an extra £12.9million annually.
The proposed hike would take the annual bill for a Band D property in Aberdeen from £1,418.62 to £1,560.
The final bill for residents would end up even higher. Other charges, including those for water supply and sewage, would still be added to the total cost.
Options being put to councillors range from maintaining the current tariff – which would bring in around £129.2million – and increasing the levy by as much as 12%.
That uppermost suggestion would raise an extra £15.5million for the local authority in the next year, the city’s accountants forecast.
10% option
Another part of the document – seen by the Press & Journal – details officials’ endorsed way forward, which indicates 10% is the option being pursued.
Neighbouring Aberdeenshire councillors set their council tax last week. The debate there was whether the annual charge should leap by 4% or 6%.
The eventual 4% increase, it was admitted, would not be “universally welcomed”.
In Aberdeen, council tax for 2023-24 will be set at a meeting on March 1.
Councillors were told in August that the city would need to slash £53million when setting this year’s budget.
The daunting savings target is so high for 2023-24 because councillors voted to save £19million through one-off wins last year.
These short-term measures can’t be replicated in the years to come, meaning officials have to find new ways of balancing the city books.
At the start of the month, chief finance officer Jonathan Belford said: “One-off funding streams present the council with an unsustainable position.
“Each year that you balance a budget based on a one-off funding stream – for example, reserves or taking advantage of fiscal flexibility as we have this year – that has to be replaced the next year.
“As a result, it becomes ever more unaffordable to actually find new solutions and therefore strikingly difficult for the overall budget to be sustainable over the medium to long term.”
A council-tax increase would add to the mounting costs people living in Aberdeen will have to contend with.
In December, the SNP and Liberal Democrat coalition running the local authority voted through steep increases in the cost of parking permits.
Eye-watering hikes
Residents living in controlled parking zones face eye-watering hikes of up to £140 a year if they wish to park their car outside their homes.
This would be on top of the mounting cost of living nationwide, as household bills sky-rocket.
A city spokeswoman told the P&J: “Finalised budget options drawn up by officers will be published on the council’s website later this month. Councillors will meet on March 1 to agree a budget for 2023-24. It would not be appropriate to comment in advance of this.”
