Council tax in Ceredigion will rise by 4.75 per cent despite senior councillors being told it would be “another kick in the teeth” for struggling residents.

At a full council meeting on 2 March, Ceredigion County Council voted through a 4.75 per cent rise in council tax from April alongside the 2026/27 budget, after near double digit rises for residents in previous years.

Independent group leader Cllr Rhodri Evans said that since 2022, the average Band D council tax in Ceredigion has gone up £550 a year – a more than 40 per cent increase in just four years.

Welsh Government figures show that Ceredigion had the seventh highest council tax for an average Band D home anywhere in Wales in 2025/26, and the second highest in Wales in average council tax per dwelling.

Last year’s council tax increase in Ceredigion was also the largest in Wales.

“Do you really think that residents can afford another increase this year?” Cllr Evans asked.

“No wonder Ceredigion residents are struggling financially with the cost of living.”

He told the meeting he could not support the budget as yet another council tax increase would be “another kick in the teeth for Ceredigion residents.”

“These residents we know are struggling financially and are barely able to live and keep their families,” he said.

“That is the current situation without even thinking about another council tax hike.”

Cllr Carl Worrall said he had “deep and ongoing concerns over the increasing pressures facing families within our community.”

“Each year I raise the same issues, and each year the situation seems to grow more severely,” he said.

“Sadly I still cannot see an end in sight.”

Finance Cabinet member Cllr Gareth Davies said that an increase in council tax “does mean that there are more cost pressures on Ceredigion residents, which isn’t something that we want to see.”

“But unfortunately we have the clear decision to make either we don’t raise the council tax or we introduce cuts,” he told members.

The finalised budget for 2026/27 will include an additional £600,000 to the schools budget and an extra £41,000 funding for swimming pools in Llandysul and Aberaeron.

It also earmarks £1m to start providing match funding for “key upcoming capital projects” including the Aberystwyth Coastal Defence scheme; the planned agricultural vocational training centre in Lampeter; and improvements at primary schools in Aberaeron, Rhydypennau, and Penparc.

A £200,000 investment will also be made in the council’s Graduate Employment Scheme “to allow the continuation of this new successful initiative to assist with longer term recruitment and retention.”

Council leader Cllr Bryan Davies told the meeting that the council is not cutting services in the county “for the second year in a row” and called for “maturity” from councillors in the budget vote.

Councillors voted 26 in favour, seven against, with four abstentions to sign off on the council’s full 2026/27 budget, including the 4.75 per cent council tax rise from April.