Council promises to reduce council tax increase if additional government funding secured
Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter
A Welsh council leader has promised to reduce planned Council Tax increases by 1% for every million pounds of additional funding from the Welsh Government.
The pledge comes from Wrexham Borough Council leader Mark Pritchard, who said councils across Wales were ‘fighting for their lives’ to get a better financial package from Welsh Government.
He revealed that their chief finance officer calculated that Wrexham Council needed to increase council tax by 9.9% next year.
The increase could rise even further, with Cllr Pritchard warning a Senedd committee last week that the final increase could be 15% per household in Wrexham.
Council tax increase
Mr Pritchard told Members of the Senedd: “Our settlement in Wrexham is an improvement and that’s appreciated. But it isn’t enough money because the demands are outstripping the services.”
This week he has revealed that every percentage point that council tax goes up is worth £700,000 to the authority.
He promised that if councils successfully negotiate more money from Welsh Government, Wrexham will reduce its council tax increase by one percent for every million pounds of extra funding.
“Where will the final council tax level end up?” Cllr Pritchard said. “I don’t have a crystal ball so I don’t know. Will it need to go to 10%, 11 %, 12% or more? It depends what the pressures are and what our final settlement from Welsh Government is.”
“For every one per cent that we take off the increase, it’s £700,000 the council has to cut.”
“But if we can secure an improved settlement rom Welsh Government that would be passed on directly. For every £1m extra finding we receive from the Welsh Government, we would reduce the council tax increase by one percent –because why wouldn’t you?”
‘Disappointed’
Cllr Pritchard expressed his disappointment that councils had to fight for extra money after the Welsh Government received an additional £1.2 billion to fund services.
“I’m disappointed the additional £1.2 billion was allocated and we are still having this debate.”
Mr Pritchard also criticised the Welsh Government for finalising the settlement after council budgets have been set.
He said: “There’s the National Insurance question. We were told that 100% of the cost of the increase brought in by the UK Government would be covered by Welsh Government. Now Welsh Government are telling us we won’t find out for certain until spring.”
Cllr Pritchard suggested that there was growing opposition in the Senedd against the Welsh Government’s proposed budget and he was hopeful that would strengthen local authorities’ case for a better settlement.
“We’re all waiting to see what discussions and deals are done to get that budget over the line.”
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