CEREDIGION councillors have backed a council tax bill rise of 9.3 per cent, adding some £160 to the average bill for the council element alone, taking the average bill to some £2,300.
Ceredigion was initially on course for a 9.9 per cent council tax rise, but a late increase in the Welsh government financial support funding floor has seen a slighter better than expected rate, a rise of 3.6 per cent to 3.8 per cent, leading to the revised figure.
This recommended 9.3 per cent rise, from a council budget requirement of £209.234m, adds £160.52 to the bill for the average Band D property, before the police precept and individual town and community council elements of the overall bill are added.
A report before members at the March 3 meeting of Ceredigion County Council, presented by Cabinet Member for Finance & Procurement Cllr Gareth Davies said, of the 9.3 per cent increase in taxpayers’ bills, 4.3 per cent of that was for core funding, 2.9 for employers’ national insurance contributions, 0.6 for an increase in the Mid & West Wales Fire Levy and 1.5 of the percentage increase in council tax to increased investment in Waste Collection & Planning Enforcement Services.
The last part sees a £346,000 investment in the Planning Enforcement Service and a £481,000 in the Waste Collection Service.
Independents Group leader Cllr Rhodri Evans, who has previously called for a circa six per cent rise, with a look at staffing costs of higher-paid members of the authority over £45,000 as part of a way of addressing that difference, said: “As an independent group we’re very disappointed at not looking at savings to bring council tax back from 9.3 per cent.”
Cllr Evans said there was a need to look at working with other local authorities to address the council’s wage issue, adding: “I do not agree we cannot look at the county as a business, it is a business; we cannot expect Ceredigion residents to pay nearly 10 per cent more each budget, the council tax will have increased around 30 per cent in the last three years.”
He later pleaded: “I’m begging you to think before passing this budget that isn’t sustainable to Ceredigion residents and isn’t sustainable in the future.”
Cllr Evans’ earlier call for the lower circa six per cent rise, which took the form of a letter received by councillors, was questioned as “a cynical attempt to have easy headlines in the local press” by Cllr Catrin M S Davies.
Members had earlier heard from Cabinet member Cllr Gareth Davies that many of the £45,000-plus staffing roles identified were for statutory and ‘front-line’ services, and the previously-called-for increase in planning enforcement would lead to new higher paid jobs in itself.
Cllr Rhodri Evans said he had written the letter “honestly,” adding: “How it was reported in the local press I couldn’t do anything about.”
Cllr Elizabeth Evans, leader of the Liberal Democrat group said the previous 9.9 per cent bill increase “would’ve been too much for anyone,” adding there would be no party whip on the way her members voted over the proposal.
“To keep our head above water we must set council tax at 9.3 per cent,” said Cllr Evans, who warned there was a need to keep on the side of public opinion, citing the locally unpopular decision to move a library in her Aberaeron ward to the council buildings at Penmorfa.
“Take the Aberaeron library move as a litmus test of public opinion across this country, a public that feels incredibly remote from this council; attitudes must change, to ignore that level of public response is disrespectful to all our residents.”
Members supported the 9.3 per cent increase by 21 votes to 16.
The overall average Band D council tax county council element of the overall tax bill will rise to £1,886.57 for 2025-‘26; Dyfed- Powys Police and Crime Panel recently backing an 8.6 per cent increase for the forthcoming year, at £360.68 for a Band D property, which would take the annual bill without the town/community element to £2,247.25.
In the case of one Ceredigion town, Cardigan, whose precept was set at £51.65 for a Band D property, the annual bill will now be £2,298.90.
