Last minute funding could mean lower council tax rise

CEREDIGION county councillors, who have been taking part in budget scrutiny at committee meetings this week, have been told of a potential £1million funding boost as Cardiff announces an extra £50million to be shared with all Welsh authorities.

Council leader Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn said she had received a letter from the finance minister on Thursday morning outlining the extra funding and an updated budget report would be prepared for cabinet next week.

“We will have more money than we anticipated when the officers were preparing the budget papers for us,” she said last Friday, adding: “I very much hope it will enable us to look at less of an increase in council tax.”

Ceredigion received a larger revenue settlement than last year with £119.419 million Aggregate External Finance (AEF) allocated, an increase of 8.6 per cent, but Cllr app Gwynn reminded members that the authority was 19th out of the 22 authorities when it came to the amount awarded.

The draft budget was developed with a 4.75 per cent council tax rise, with increases of 5 and 5.25 per cent also included in the options discussed.

Cllr Marc Davies pointed out that according to RSG figures Ceredigion received more than the average per person and he would be calling for the increased allocation to be used solely to offset council tax rises.

He said he would propose “to have an option going on to full council that this additional funding we will have we can use it so that the entire sum goes against council tax in order to reduce council tax.”

Cllr ap Gwynn added: “To tell you the truth I think we will all want to see that because of the situation out in our communities, the less we can increase the council tax the better.”