Today Aberdeenshire councillors set the budget for the coming financial year. Here are the key points:

• Council tax frozen, for an eighth year. If the tax were to be increased the Scottish Government would penalise the council by £3.5m.
• Council rents to go up by 4.5% from 6 April. That takes the average weekly rent to £65.73, an increase of £2.83. All the money raised from rents is reinvested in the housing stock. A national independent survey showed that 79% of Aberdeenshire tenants said that their rents represent good or very good value. Aberdeenshire has about 13,000 homes; some 8000 were sold over the years; and some 14,000 are on the waiting list.
• £50 million of savings may need to be made by 2019/20. That’s roughly 10% of our budget.
  We will maintain teacher numbers, but the challenge is to recruit teachers. Currently there are about 185 full-time equivalent vacancies.
• Some £27 million will be spent in total on our roads (we have the equivalent mileage of roads to go from here to Damascus). The council will continue its programme of converting street lights to LED.
• The capital spend was also agreed, which totals nearly £1 billion over the next 15 years. This includes £11,066,000 for Hillside Primary School and £65 million on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route.

You can find out more at http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/