Aberdeen City Council today launched its Budget Consultation 2025/26 – aimed at understanding how potential savings options might affect residents. Due to rising demand and costs, the Council must address a funding shortfall of £34 million in 2025/26 and £54m over the next three years.

The first phase of the engagement exercise asks how service changes would impact people, including those with protected characteristics – as well as considering ways to fund services.

The Council is faced with changing, reducing or even stopping some services and/or generating extra income from fees and charges, including Council Tax.

Phase 1 of the online consultation, which closes on September 15, aims to capture feedback on the potential impact of service changes in seven themed areas:

• Communities
• Citizen Services
• Culture and Sport
• Education
• Roads, Waste and Environment
• Capital Programmes
• Council Tax

Phase 2, which will run later in the year, will explore options for balancing the Council’s budget in greater detail, drawing on feedback from Phase 1.

The results will help inform the decisions taken by councillors in setting spending plans at the annual Budget meeting early next year.

For those without internet access at home, the consultation can be accessed at the Central Library on Rosemount Viaduct or the Marischal College Customer Service Centre on Broad Street during normal working hours. A series of events will also be used to promote the consultation. Last year’s consultation – the first of its kind agreed by Aberdeen City Council – drew nearly 6,000 responses across its two phases.

Find out more at https://aberdeencitybudget.commonplace.is