The Council Leader, Councillor Jim Logue, has invited MSPs and MPs to a budget briefing session ahead of the council setting its budget for the year ahead.
The council is facing £60m of cuts over the next three years. At the briefing on Friday February 2, the council’s chief executive and chief officer for finance will highlight the challenges facing the council.
Councillor Logue said: “I have invited constituency and region MSPs, and MPs, from all parties to this briefing. It is a really good opportunity for them to ask questions to myself and council officers on the upcoming budget.
“I offered the same opportunity last year but unfortunately, attendance was not as high as I would have expected given the importance of these issues to local people and so two dates have been offered this time around.
“The reality is that the Scottish Government grant funds 82% of all council services. Continued ring-fencing of funding and real-terms reductions mean some of the most valued local services are under threat. The only way to avoid significant cuts to these services is for the Scottish Government to provide a fair financial settlement to councils.
“The council is facing £60 million in cuts over the next three years which means that we may have some services that are at breaking point. We will now need to make some very difficult decisions about services and how they function in the future when the council sets its budget next month. We are required to deliver more services than we did 10 years ago, yet this council’s budget has been cut by more than £209 million in the last decade.
“We are faced with impossible choices and it’s essential that elected representatives are fully aware of the detailed challenges we face so that they can properly represent their constituents. This is a really important briefing and I hope they will prioritise their attendance so that they can ask any questions they might have."