FINAL budget plans for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council next year are set to go before councillors as well as an alternative proposal from the opposition that the council tax rise is reduced and more reserves are used.
A 4.7% council tax increase is being planned for RCT residents to give the council resources to prepare for and respond to future major weather events.
Updated budget proposals for 2025-26 which have been recommended to full council by cabinet show this proposed council tax increase would mean band A properties paying £1.02 extra per week and band D properties paying £1.53 extra per week.
Increasing council tax by 4.7% will reduce the remaining budget gap by £769,000, the budget report said.
But Plaid Cymru have put forward an alternative proposal for council tax and reserves use which would see the council tax increase for the 2025-26 year reduce from 4.7% to 4% by taking £1.22m out of the transitional reserve to balance the budget.
Under the proposals recommended to full council by the Labour cabinet the plan is for schools to be allocated funding next year to cover in full all their pressures, which will see an extra £2m allocated to the individual schools budget (ISB).
This will see the schools budget increase by £11.2m for next year, or 5.6%, the report said. Resources for teachers’ pension costs have been allocated to schools and the ISB base budget requirement has been adjusted to reflect lower energy budget requirements.
The report also highlighted £500,000 of one-off funding which the council used to support the schools budget for 2024-25, ring-fenced for ongoing cost pressures associated with additional learning needs.
The report said the schools budget would increase from £198m to £212m, an overall rise of 7%.
A decision to close Cae Glas care home in Hawthorn will reduce the budget gap for next year by a further £1.16m.
Efficiency measures and budget cuts of £5.75m have been found including £3.75m in general efficiencies, £1m in capital charges and interest receivable, and £1m from service restructuring and vacancy management.
The report said officers had provided assurance the measures proposed could be delivered operationally and without a significant detrimental impact on frontline services.
A 5% standard rise in fees and charges is proposed with some areas seeing their own treatment and this will bring in £633,000 in income for the council.
These measures, along with £50,000 in extra funding from the final Welsh Government settlement, reduce the budget gap from £6.82m to £457,000.
The plan is to use £457,000 of the council’s transitional funding reserve to fill this remaining gap leaving £4.26m in this reserve.
Under Plaid Cymru’s proposals the £1.22m use of transitional funding reserves would consist of the £457,000 as recommended by cabinet plus an additional £769,000 to compensate for the proposed 0.7% reduction in the council tax rise from 4.7% to 4%.
In response the council’s director of finance Barrie Davies has said: “The proposal is lawful and within the competence of the council.
“However, I would reiterate my advice to cabinet in that we should seek to minimise the use of one-off funding to balance the 2025-26 revenue budget .
“A question therefore might reasonably be asked as to what accompanying permanent, base budget-reducing measures would be proposed to offset the additional use of one off funding.
“It is also noted that whilst the settlement for 2025-26 is more favourable than anticipated the outlook beyond continues to look challenging.
“Accordingly it is recommended as being prudent to keep the use of this reserve to a minimum level in support of next year’s budget in order to protect the subsequent year’s budget strategy from having to address a more significant underlying budget shortfall.
“This underlines and demonstrates the responsible way in which we continue to use reserves to support our budget through challenging financial times.”
The overall council revenue budget for 2025-26 is set to be £668.17m.
The final funding settlement from Welsh Government for Rhondda Cynon Taf confirmed an increase in funding of 4.8%.
Full council will now consider the budget proposals at a meeting on Wednesday, March 5.
