Residents in RCT paying sixth lowest amount of council tax
RHONDDA Cynon Taff residents are paying the sixth-lowest amount of council tax per property in Wales this year.
Council figures for 2018-19 show the average council tax being paid per dwelling in RCT was £1,209, which is below the Welsh average of £1,319.
Only Caerphilly, Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Pembrokeshire and Merthyr Tydfil have a lower average council tax per dwelling with Caerphilly having the lowest at £1,017.
Monmouthshire’s was the highest, with the average council tax paid per property there being £1,732.
The figures come from the annual report of the leader Councillor Andrew Morgan which is set to go before the council’s overview and scrutiny committee.
RCT Council is currently consulting on a council tax rise for 2019-20 of around 3%.
The council has confirmed it is looking to close a £5.9m budget gap following the better-than-expected provisional Welsh Government settlement announced in October.
Previous forecasts had suggested the gap could have been as high as £17m before the settlement was announced.
In 2018-19 RCT set a council tax rise of 3.3% which was the lowest in Wales that year with the previous two rises being 2.5% and 2.25%.
Cllr Morgan states in his report: “The administration has always sought to avoid transferring the strain of austerity to residents and key frontline services, where possible.
“The council intends to continue this in 2019-20 and is currently consulting on a slight increase of around three per cent once again.”
Council tax bands are calculated based on the value of a property at a specific point in time (in Wales it is what they were valued at on April 1, 2003).
The lowest band (Band A) includes properties valued up to £44,000.
Cllr Morgan points out that 103,535 properties (43% of households) in the county borough are classed as Band A with around 81% of households being in Bands A-C.
In contrast, he says that Cardiff only has 3% of dwellings classified as Band A and 35% of dwellings in Bands A-C.
The council needs to close a budget gap of £5.9m...