With an eye-watering council tax rise on the horizon and a finance chief saying the budget has given him sleepless nights, we have taken a look at the salaries earned by top officers at Ceredigion County Council and how they compare to other leading figures in public life.

Chief executive Eifion Evans earns £137,000 annually, with Ceredigion County Council's corporate director, Barry Rees, earning £120,500.

Both officers earn more than their counterpart in Gwynedd, Dafydd Gibbard, who is paid £118,000 a year as chief executive of Cyngor Gwynedd.

By comparison, the First Minister Mark Drakeford earns £148,000 a year, with the Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police, Dr Richard Lewis, earning £146,000 a year.

A Ceredigion finance chief has warned that the council “can’t provide all services to all people”, and that the authority will have to “go back to basics” to produce balanced budgets in future years, with the medium term financial outlook giving him “sleepless nights.”

Meeting to discuss a “nightmare” draft budget that will see council tax rocket, fees spike, and services slashed in a bid to balance the book, cabinet members heard from Duncan Hall, corporate lead director for finance at Ceredigion County Council.

He said that although the current budget plans are “sobering”, it is the medium term financial outlook which gives him “sleepless nights”.

“The bit I focus on the most and more gives me the sleepless nights is actually the medium term financial outlook,” Mr Hall told cabinet members.

“I’m already looking ahead.

“There is a huge challenge to get through the next financial year but it is 2025/26 onwards which is starting to concern me and we have to look at how we become sustainable in the medium term.

“That’s not going to happen if we keep producing 72 different budget reductions every year, that’s not going to get us to the place we need to be.

“That’s why the report mentions in several places a fundamental re-evaluation of what the council is about and what we are here for.

“We can’t provide all services to all people.

“We’re here for the vulnerable in society and perhaps we need to go back to basics in terms of determining what we deliver as a council.”

He told cabinet members: “As everyone’s aware it’s an extremely challenging budget process and the most intense budget process I’ve personally been involved in.

“Not hours, or days but weeks of time have gone into this process and yet we’re still ending up in a position that’s not entirely palatable, but that’s despite the huge amount of work that has gone in behind the scenes.

“It’s important to remember we need to look specifically at Ceredigion’s position.

“There’s a danger we can be drawn into looking at what’s happening across Wales.

“Every single authority is different in terms of its challenges and position and balance sheets.

“I could name a north Wales authority that is using £4.4m worth of their general balances reserves to prop up their budget and I personally don’t want to be taking that approach in Ceredigion.

“I can also name another authority that has used the word section 114 within its report and I counted it nine times in their budget report, so Ceredigion is not in the position but clearly some other authorities have huge challenges.

“So if we think our challenge is difficult, we’re not alone in this but everyone is tackling their challenges differently.”