A 9.5% COUNCIL tax hike was supported by a North Wales council’s executive today. That means anyone living in a Band D property on Anglesey will be facing an annual bill of more than £1,700 pounds in the next financial year, if the proposal is approved by the Isle Of Anglesey County Council (Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn) in March.
There are also plans to maintain the council tax premium for second and empty homes at 100%. That came as the formally agreed the council’s draft revenue budget for 2025/26, at a meeting in Llangefni today.
A final draft will then be recommended for approval by the executive in February, and a final decision over the 2025/26 revenue budget made by the full council on March 6, 2025. Following agreement of the draft, a public consultation will follow, along with further council scrutiny.
The meeting today heard the proposed council tax figure of 9.5% was be made up of an 8.85% rise from the council, plus a 0.65% rise to cover the North Wales Fire & Rescue Service levy.
It would take Band D property charges to £1,721.70 per year – the equivalent of £2.87 pence a week – deputy leader and portfolio holder for finance Cllr Robin W Williams said.

The premium on empty and second homes would remain at 100% – with the £1 million of funds raised, used to help first-time buyers on the island get on the property ladder. A draft sum of £2m would be released from the council’s general balances and earmarked reserves, to balance the budget – that would leaving a 5% figure of reserves, the minimum level the council had to keep for contingencies.
The draft budget was formerly agreed at £195.2m, an increase of of £11. 65m, combined with proposed ‘savings’ or cuts of £699,000.
The meeting heard that a provisional funding settlement increase from the Welsh Government of 3.6% was announced just before Christmas. But there was some uncertainty over the government’s final funding package., which would not be known until spring.
Council leader Gary Pritchard told the meeting that the council had needed 9% to keep a “standstill budge keeping council tax low and with no cuts”. But the Welsh Government settlement looked to be “better than expected but still does not meet our needs,” he added.
“It has been a challenge to set the budget, even though we received a better settlement. None of us come into the council, from any political party, to have stood as councillors with the intention of making council tax rises, but it is very difficult when we don’t get more money,” cllr Pritchard said,
Cllr Robin W Williams said the 3.6 % received by the Welsh Government had been “one of the worst in Wales – the third lowest. It left us with a budget deficit gap of over £10M he said.”
He said that rural local authorities, such as Gwynedd and Powys had received less, under the formula the Welsh Government used to calculate local authority funding, with higher amounts going to cities. such as Cardiff and Swansea, and the highest going to Newport.
“Newport got 5.6% and we got 3.6%, the average for Wales was 4.3 % it shows how unfair it is to us. But our council tax will still be on par with the other increases by local authorities,” ,” cllr Williams added.
He noted that the authority was “looking at a funding gap of £10.79m, before any cuts, using its reserves or increasing council tax”. To close the gap, just with council taxes would have meant a 20% rise.
Responding to comments over media headlines at the “eyewatering” figure of 9.50% council tax rise, the meeting was told the figure was the 16th lowest of 22 councils and was £80 lower than the Wales average figure, and the lowest proposed in North Wales.
