Home » Ceredigion council tax could rise by nearly 10%

Ceredigion council tax could rise by nearly 10%

Ceredigion Council headquarters at Penmorfa in Aberaeron (Pic: Google Streetview)

COUNCIL tax in Ceredigion could increase by nearly 10 per cent this year, adding up to £170 to the average basic annual bill, senior councillors heard.

At Ceredigion County Council’s Cabinet meeting of January 21, members received a report on the 2025-’26 revenue budget, which included estimated revenue cost pressures being faced by the Council of £11.8m for ‘25/26.

A report for members said: “Welsh Government (WG) announced the ‘25/26 Local Government Provisional Settlement on December 11.

Ceredigion has received a 3.6 per cent funding increase (ranked 15th out of 22 Local Authorities), which unfortunately also equates to Ceredigion receiving the lowest increase per head of population across all of Wales,” adding: “There remain difficult budget choices to be made as part of weighing up how, if and where to reduce the cost of the council’s services, alongside considering the appropriate level of funding to be raised through council tax.  The MTFS approved in October 2024 was clear that ‘the modelled five per cent council tax increase will not be sufficient to balance the budget’ and that still remains the case.”

The report says the council budget requirement for ’25-’26 is £209.109m, or £209.234m, depending on a level of investment in the Planning Enforcement Service.

It also says the £11.8m cost pressures, with the previously-agreed increase in second homes premiums to 150 per cent providing an estimated £1.1m benefit, along with potential budget cuts of just under £1.1m would leave a shortfall of £2.5-£2.6m at a five per cent council tax increase.

One cost increase on its own is Mid & West Wales Fire Authority’s proposed budget increase of £301,000, equivalent of a 0.6 per cent council tax increase alone.

In broad terms each one per cent change in council tax now equates to a net benefit of c.£536,000, the report says, adding: “If the current budget shortfall is funded through council tax it would equate to a further 4.7 per cent to 4.9 per cent in council tax terms and therefore be a total indicative council tax increase for 25/26 of either 9.7 per cent or 9.9 per cent.”

The overall average Band D Council Tax level in Ceredigion is currently £2,103.89, 3.9 per cent above the Wales average.

The county council element alone, excluding the police precept and town/community council part amounts to £1,726.05, with the two potential increases adding £167.25 and £170.88 respectively.

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Members agreed to a long string or recommendations including the 9.7 and 9.9 per cent council tax increases, the latter including a £346k investment in the Planning Enforcement Service and a £481k investment in the Waste Collection Service.

The recommendations – part of a long process before the final budget is decided – will be referred to the appropriate scrutiny committees before returning to Cabinet in February for its final recommendations ahead of a full council decision on March 3.

The 2024-’25 council tax rate rose by 11.1 per cent after an initial 13.9 per cent rate was dropped.

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