Ceredigion County Council Cabinet members have signed off on moving forward with a near 10 per cent council tax increase from April.

With Ceredigion County Council facing a budget shortfall for 2025/26 of more than £7.5m, residents are going to be asked again to dip into their pockets to plug the gap in the authority’s finances.

Council leader Cllr Bryan Davies told the Cabinet meeting on 21 January it is set to be “another difficult year” for Ceredigion, and said the 3.6 per cent funding increase from the Welsh Government was “not sufficient.”

He said the council “does the best with the finances we have.”

A six or seven per cent increase is needed in order not to raise council tax, the meeting heard, with the 3.6 per cent settlement not enough to cap the council tax rise at five per cent – the council’s initial aim.

The meeting heard that council chiefs are continuing to lobby the Welsh Government to up the level of funding Ceredigion receives, with a final funding settlement due next month, with any increase used to lower the planned council tax increase.

But, for now residents are facing up to either a 9.7 per cent or 9.9 per cent increase on council tax to raise an extra £2.5m for council’s coffers.

Last year - after an 11.1 per cent increase last April – the average Band D property in Ceredigion was paying £1,726.05 to Ceredigion County Council, rising to £2,103.89 once the Police and average Town and Community Council precept elements were included.

That figure was higher than the Wales average, and is now set to climb again by around £14 a month.

The council tax increase will mean, after a slew of cuts to services over the past two years, that “the council is not proposing to cut any services” in the 2025/26 budget.

A report before members said: “Ceredigion has received a 3.6 per cent funding increase, which unfortunately also equates to the lowest increase per head of population across all of Wales.

“Considerable lobbying is being done to make the case that there should be a Funding Floor in the 2025/26 Local Government Final Settlement of no less than 4.3 per cent.

“At this level, Ceredigion would have the ability to lower the potential Council Tax increase by circa two per cent.

“In overall terms the 2025/26 Settlement is not as low as had been expected and the Cabinet therefore expects to be able to deliver a Council Tax increase lower than that seen in the current year.

“It is simply not possible to balance the Budget by having low Council Tax increases and at the same time sustaining and retaining all services.”

The budget plans include extra money for the Planning Enforcement Service and the Waste Collection Service.

The council’s budget plans will now go before scrutiny committees before final decisions are taken by the full council in early March.