Moray Council proposes big cuts to balance budget

Moray Council is proposing some of the biggest cuts to local services seen in Scotland in recent years.

Proposed cuts, which would save £10m, include shutting two swimming pools, some libraries and public toilets.

However, a further £5m worth will need to be found within weeks to balance the books and set a budget.

More than 100 jobs are affected by the proposals and the council is not ruling out compulsory redundancies.

All councils are under a legal obligation to produce balanced budgets.

There has been speculation that a balanced budget may not be possible for Moray Council.

The scale of the cuts anticipated in Moray are significantly greater than they had been predicting.

All councils are heavily dependent on the Scottish government for money, although councils still cannot be sure just how much government money they will get.

Collectively they may get more than currently proposed, depending on any deals stuck at Holyrood to pass the government's budget.

The Scottish government has said it is giving councils more to spend on local services.

However, some local authorities have argued that because the government is specifying what services some of that money is spent on, there will be the need for cuts and savings elsewhere.