THE CASH allocated to Ceredigion Council for 2015-16 was announced on December 10, showing that the funding allocated to Ceredigion has decreased by 4.5%, and that Welsh Local Authorities as a whole have seen an average fall of 3.4%. The disappointing news, said the Council, was that Ceredigion is the county to receive the harshest cut of 4.5%, reducing the grant we receive to £99.256 million for 2015-16.
Having had to already find budget cuts of £9.5m during 2014-15, the funding reduction means that we have to find a further £10m savings for 2015-16, and work is well under-way to achieve this target. Ellen ap Gwynn, Leader of Ceredigion County Council told The Herald: “Last week’s announcement of the Final Settlements for 2015-16 by Leighton Andrews is unfavourable to Ceredigion. Drawing up a budget for 2015-16, and the subsequent years, is a very challenging process, and as a result we will have to make difficult decisions in order to balance the budget.”
She added: “The public engagement and consultation that took place over the last couple of months has given us guidance regarding the priorities of the people of Ceredigion. We will now need to look closely at all our services to see if they can be provided more cost effectively, if not, then hard decisions will have to be made to either cut or transfer to other bodies to provide on our behalf. The final decisions for proposals will be going to full Council in the New Year. We will try as best we can to keep services going for the benefit of Ceredigion citizens at this difficult time.”
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