South Ayrshire Council faces one of its toughest ever budgets this week, in the knowledge that it must find £37.8m over the next three years.
While the authority is braced for some difficult decisions, not least the level of council tax residents pay, the pressure is eased by a change to public private partnership (PPP) repayments for new schools.
However, the council has warned of the difficulties it faces, given it has already been forced to spend around £7.5m more than it budgeted for last March.
