THE leader of Ceredigion County Council has penned a lengthy open letter to the county's residents saying the local authority has no other option but to hike up council tax bills from April.
Along with an eye-watering rise of 13.9 per cent from April, Ceredigion County Council is also proposing a string of service cuts such as the meals at home service, pushing responsibility for public toilets onto town and community councils and introducing parking meters along Aberystwyth’s promenade in an attempt to balance the books.
The rise in Ceredigion is the highest in Wales, with neighbouring Powys proposing a 7.5 per cent increase and Carmarthenshire a 6.5 per cent increase.
Despite the rises and service cuts in Ceredigion, the council is not considering using reserves to prop up services.
In an open letter on Wednesday afternoon, the Plaid Cymru leader of Ceredigion County Council warned that the local authority has to balance the books by law and ‘and failure to do so would mean Welsh Government having to take over the running of our services’.
Cllr Davies, who represents Llanarth, said: “In our budget allocation for 2024/25 (from the Welsh Government), Ceredigion Council only received a 2.6 per cent increase and this is in comparison to over 4 per cent given to Newport and Cardiff. The allocations are linked to the county's population, and we’re penalised for having lower population numbers.
“A 2.6% increase must be compared to Ceredigion-specific inflation running at 10.1%.
“We have very challenging social care budgets, with an ever-increasing elderly population, with escalating numbers of young people needing complex, costly out-of-county care and, of course, our decision to take control of Hafan y Waun.
“Taking over Hafan y Waun Care Home has added over £1million to our expenditure, but it is a decision that secures our main dementia care facility in Ceredigion, and which I'm sure, will benefit Ceredigion residents and their families hugely.
“This year, to balance our books, it may be that a council tax increase of 13.9 per cent is necessary. If we were only to raise council tax by 5 per cent for instance, we would have a shortfall of £4.1million, even with cuts to various budgets.
“No councillor ever wants to raise the Council Tax levy and I, like my co-councillors, certainly don't want to see such an increase on the already hard-pressed Ceredigion residents.
“I know that people see us as a council reducing services and increasing taxes.
“In the last decade and more, our services and our staffing have had to reduce because the funding handed to us has reduced dramatically.
“Ceredigion Council continues to have excellent reports on the services we deliver – the schools and care homes we run, and on our efficiency as a Council. Our staff do a tremendous job in running our leisure centres, collecting the bins, in teaching and caring. As a Council, I’d love for us to be able to do more, but for now in these difficult times, we can’t.
“As residents in Ceredigion, you will have a variety of views on how we run this council and the decisions we are elected to take.
“I’m talking to your community council this week to hear their views and I’m sure they’ll be keen to discuss local priorities. I am here to listen.
“I hope that we can all work together for the greater good of Ceredigion. As councillors, that’s what we all want to do.”
Tax rises and service cuts
Rises planned for 2024/25
- Council tax up by 13.9%
- Second homes premium for council tax up to 100%
- Car parking up by at least 10%
- Introducing parking fees along Aberystwyth promenade which would bring in an estimated £400,000
- Introducing fees at Ceredigion Museum to bring in an estimated £60,000
- Increase fees at public toilets by 33.3 per cent
- Harbour fees to rise by at least 25% to bring in estimated £75,000
- Cost of temporary road closures for events to rise by 8%
- Cost of black waste bags and green garden waste bags to rise by 10% and 11.1%
- Cost of trade waste bags to rise by 93%, with collection charges rising by 80%
- Cost of some activities at leisure centres in the county to rise by as much as 18%
- All other services to see an inflation-linked increase of around 7%
Cuts planned for 2024/25
- Community Grants Scheme budget halved from £200,000 to £100,000
- Carers Sitting Service budget to reduce from £255,000 to £150,000
- Meals at Home service to be ceased
- Scrapping £30,000 of support to Aberystwyth Arts Centre and £14,000 to Theatr Mwldan
- Community Warden Service scrapped to save £64,000
- Co-location of libraries with other council services to save £70,000
- Cease additional Libraries support for schools to save £46,000
- Reducing Mobile Library Service to two vehicles to save £70,000
- Future Day Services and respited designed at lower cost to save £500,000
- Closure of public toilets or handing them to community councils to save £100,000
- Automatic streetlight dimming to save £35,000
- Community Glass Banks to be replaced to save £40,000
- Limiting the number of black bags collected at each household to save £25,000
- Stop producing waste calendars to save £20,000
- Ceasing AHP (nappies) collection service to save £25,000
- Reduction in winter gritting to save £25,000
- Stop undertaking seasonal street cleaning or transfer to community councils to save £32,000
- Closure of one household waste site in the county and review opening hours of others to save £100,000