ABERDONIANS have been told there is no light at the end of this tunnel, as the city braces for another multi-million-pound budget cull.
City accountants predict £43.5million will need to be cut from day-to-day spending in 2024-25.
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The Press & Journal says the projected black hole in the pot for every-day council services has widened a further £8million on what was feared in March.
And it will mean cuts of similar scale to this year, when councillors slashed £46.6millionfrom public spending.
A latest in a bleak series of budget days, Aberdeen City Council has since been taken to court over the closure of libraries and swimming pools which followed as a result.
With those unpopular decisions now taken, this year the axe could fall on schools, grass cutting, street lighting and road maintenance.
Further cuts could be made to the library service or more council tax hikes might be considered following this year’s 5% rise.
But the soaring cost of borrowing also threatens the grand multi-million-pound regeneration plans for the city centre and Aberdeen beach.
Gross external debt topped £1.5billion last year. And the rising cost of maintaining that debt is leading to calls to scale back or slow down the city’s building projects.
After this year’s budget backlash, the SNP and Lib Dems running the local authority launched a consultation of citizens to try to understand what they value most.
A second survey will follow in the autumn.
