‘With Council Tax rocketing, residents need to be aware of help’

Residents should be provided with all the details of how to get financial support with their Council Tax bills, a senior councillor has said.

At a meeting of the council’s Economy Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Monday, councillors probed draft budget proposals for savings and costs including property and planning.

Committee chairwoman, Liberal Democrat Cllr Angela Davies, said: “The Council Tax is proposed be set at 8.9%, there are various discounts that residents get.

“There’s a 25% (single living) discount, some have a full 100% discount, there’s disabled reductions and nearly 10,000 people have means tested Council Tax.

“How does that compare to other counties?” she asked.

Finance portfolio Labour’s Cllr David Thomas explained that 53% of residents don’t pay full Council Tax “because of the different schemes we operate”.

He added: “With regards to the benchmarking against other local authorities, I don’t have that information to hand.”

Cllr Davies said: “By increasing the Council Tax are we running the risk that less people will be paying the full amount, and we will be worse off.”

Cllr Thomas said: “Collection rates up to quarter two (end of September) were just very slightly, 0.2%, behind the previous year.

“Generally, we finish at about 98% (collection rate) which is in line with the Welsh average.

“With the level supporting we’re putting into this budget, I’m not anticipating that will change significantly.”

Later in the meeting the committee discussed recommendations that will be added to the draft budget report - which will go to a full council meeting on February 20 for a vote.

Cllr Davies said: “I would like us to make a recommendation that the council ensures that when we do publish our Council Tax for the forthcoming year, all the information on the cost of living hub, and all avenues of support is sent to our residents at the same time.”

Cllr Davies stressed: “We need to ensure that all our residents are fully aware of the support that’s available to them.”

The council has calculated that to run its services next year it needs £378 million which is an £36.4 million increase from the £341.6 million this year.

To bridge that gap, the draft budget proposal includes a proposed increase in Council Tax of 8.9% which equates to £9.3 million.

This means that next year, £115.6 million, which equates to 30% of the council’s budget comes from Council Tax.

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter