Mayor effectively blocks 8% council tax hike and sends authority back to the drawing board
COUNCILLORS have failed to approve a budget which would have seen an 8% council tax rise for residents in Merthyr Tydfil next year.
There was a 14-14 split in terms of the vote at a meeting on Wednesday, February 28, including two abstentions, one of which was from the mayor who also decided not to use his casting vote.
Another meeting was due to be held on March 6 to decide on a budget for next year as the deadline to set it is March 11.
The 8% rise was being proposed along with a minimum of £9.4m in efficiencies and cuts to address the £12.52m funding gap.
The proposals also included the use of £2m from the budget reserve towards closing the budget gap, which the council’s head of finance Liam Hull said was the maximum they could use without risking the council’s financial sustainability.
Councillors also voted against a proposal to reduce Cyfarthfa Park security to 12 hours overnight. After discussions, Mr Hull said this would have led to an 8.2% council tax rise but given the relatively small nature of the saving the £70,000 would be included as an additional line in the budget and found from in year savings
Labour councillor Anna WilliamsPrice said she remained concerned that members were being asked about council tax without understanding the longerterm impact of decisions because the medium term financial plan wouldn’t be available until March.
She said that the reserves were increasingly close to the minimum level and that future deficits would need to be met by even deeper cuts and larger council tax rises, adding that she didn’t believe that was sustainable.
Independent councillor Lisa Mytton recognised the impact of austerity but also what the devolved nations got, adding that effective collaboration was important.
She said: “We can only do what we can with the cards we are dealt” adding that it was the same for the Welsh Government from Westminster.
Independent councillor Malcolm Colbran, mayor of the county borough, said responsibility for the situation councils find themselves in lies firmly at the door of Welsh Government adding that the independent-run council had been financially prudent over the years.
He said that the “system is broken” and that they need long term settlements so they can plan ahead and that they need more teachers and NHS staff not more Members of the Senedd.
He said it was not a situation they wanted to be in and that members needed to speak and vote according to their conscience so he’d be abstaining as he could not support an 8% rise.
Councillor Andrew Barry, independent cabinet member for finance and deputy leader, said: “In year savings is the thing that’s going to work for us” adding that “the system is broken.”
He said they’d only had 10 weeks to set this budget and that “we are not in a good position.”
He said they were in this position because of what was happening in Cardiff and Westminster and until that changed, they were left with what they were left with.
He said: “We’ve got nowhere else to go” adding that they’d got to make these decisions to allow the council to carry on.
The plan for schools included budget cuts of £1.98m but the report said this applied after increasing the schools budget base for increased pupil numbers, pay awards, energy cost increases, new demands and inflationary impacts.
It said that, although there was a real terms reduction of 3.9% year on year, the schools budget was increasing in cash terms by £1.7m under these proposals.
The original contribution proposed from schools was £2.1m but this was reduced to £1.9m through the use of grant money.
The total planned education budget reductions of £2.46m also included £27,000 in savings from post-16 home to school transport with a charge for post16 transport from September 1, 2025, applying to all students starting a post16 course of study from September, 2025.
Councillor Darren Roberts, leader of the Labour group, said cutting the schools budget didn’t fill him with confidence that they would give their children the best start in life.
He said education had previously been in special measures and he feared they would go back to those sad days with a cut in budgets.
But Councillor David Hughes, independent, said there had actually been a 4.5% increase in the schools budget and that they’d put it up further than what the Welsh Government gave them.
The independent leader of the council, Councillor Geraint Thomas, said no one liked to take money out of the schools budget and that they wanted to give children the best start in life.
But he said they’d had some really positive results with some good Estyn inspections, adding “we are on the right track I believe.”
Councillor Lisa Mytton, independent, said even the Welsh Government has made budget cuts so “everybody is feeling the pinch.”
She said they would look ensure that standards did not drop.
Independent councillor Declan Sammon said nobody wanted to see education budgets cut and it was “a worry” but called on Labour to lobby their local MS to do more for Merthyr Tydfil.