THIS time each year seems to come around faster.

Arguably the latest version of this annual event is more painful than the last, despite our best efforts as councillors.

I’m talking about Budget week at Glasgow City Council of course, with this year’s due to be set on Thursday.

As someone who has been an elected councillor for seven years, I must confess to Glasgow Times readers that I have found this year’s Budget process the most difficult and frustrating yet.

Year after year of savage cuts from the SNP-Green government in Edinburgh are biting increasingly hard and having a deeply damaging effect on the vital day-to-day services that people across Glasgow rely on, no matter their age.

The financial mismanagement of SNP-Green ministers has occurred on a breathtaking scale during their time in office, yet the blame is always pointed elsewhere.

That just shows how out-of-touch and arrogant these ministers have become. Take the now former SNP health secretary Michael Matheson.

He brazenly thought he could get away with charging taxpayers £11,000 for his iPad bill while he was abroad. Only once he had been told the report into his conduct left him no way out, he finally did the right thing and resigned from his role. If he had any decency, he’d forego his severance pay and ensure taxpayers’ money can be put towards our ailing public services.

My colleague councillor John Daly and I have been working diligently behind the scenes ahead of Thursday’s Budget in a genuine attempt to see where we can work with the SNP-Green council administration in order to protect frontline services and meet the needs of Glaswegians living and working in our communities.

Unfortunately, we have repeatedly felt we have been hitting our heads against a brick wall in discussions with the council.

Every time we have proposed sensible policy proposals or asked questions on what certain plans or targets will mean, we have found the council has been unwilling to answer them.

Take our pragmatic and sensible approach towards net zero targets set previously by the council.

While we all want to tackle the effects of climate change on our city, and you can’t fault the council’s ambition for wanting to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, it simply is not realistic.

Councillor Daly and I wanted to ensure that we were taking residents and businesses with us by suggesting that the council falls in line with the 2045 net zero target set by the Scottish Government.

Much like the council’s Low Emission Zone debacle, it seems as though the council is unwilling to listen to any sensible concerns or understand what unrealistic policies will mean for many Glaswegians.

That is no way to dictate a Budget process at a time when so many people are facing huge challenges in their lives and are worried what the future holds for them.

It is time for SNP-Green ministers to take responsibility for their failures – albeit in much quicker fashion than Michael Matheson did – to properly fund our councils.

I love my job and representing the people of Shettleston, but I – and councillors across the chamber – cannot keep ending up in this position every single year in facing impossible decisions over cuts to services.

I cannot sugarcoat what might be in Thursday’s Budget, but rest assured the Glasgow Conservatives will continue to fight and focus on your priorities.