Carmarthenshire council tax rise agreed
Householders in Carmarthenshire face a council tax rise of just 2.9 per cent from April.
The council’s executive board agreed to a 2.9 per cent increase for 2010/11.
If approved by full council, this means the tax levied on a band D property would go up from £873.76 to £899.14 a year’ an increase of 49p per week.
Members wanted to keep the council tax increase as low as possible for residents given the current economic situation.
A report which went before the executive board back in December initially suggested a rise of 3.3 per cent.
However, councillors asked chief officers to investigate whether it would be possible to reduce this to below three per cent.
As a result efficiency savings of almost £3million have been identified for the forthcoming financial year.
It has also been agreed to draw on £1.494million from council reserves to help ease the pressures on budgets over the next two years caused by the recession.
Deputy leader Councillor Kevin Madge said: “I think that coming out of a recession we need to think of ratepayers and keep the figure as low as we can, but we have a lot of work to do over the next couple of years, it is going to be tough.”
Councillor Clive Scourfield warned: “We are not going to be able to continually dip into our reserves.”
Director of resources Roger Jones assured members that this was a “one off” as a result of the loss of income due to the economic downturn.
Council leader Meryl Gravell said: “The scrutiny committees have asked a lot of good questions, I think we have taken it as far as we can; 2.9 per cent is a really good level of council tax.”
Councillor Pam Palmer added: “2.9 per cent this year is low but we are coming out of a recession. Hopefully this time next year the recession will be in recovery and it will be that much better, so now is the time to keep it as low as we can realistically.”
The total council budget for 2010/11 comes to just over £312 million, with the taxpayer contributing around £60 million.
The authority is to receive an increase of just 1.8 per cent in its settlement from the Assembly.
In addition to the council tax on county council services, residents also contribute to the costs of both Dyfed Powys Police and their own local town/community council.
The council’s executive board agreed to a 2.9 per cent increase for 2010/11.
If approved by full council, this means the tax levied on a band D property would go up from £873.76 to £899.14 a year’ an increase of 49p per week.
Members wanted to keep the council tax increase as low as possible for residents given the current economic situation.
A report which went before the executive board back in December initially suggested a rise of 3.3 per cent.
However, councillors asked chief officers to investigate whether it would be possible to reduce this to below three per cent.
As a result efficiency savings of almost £3million have been identified for the forthcoming financial year.
It has also been agreed to draw on £1.494million from council reserves to help ease the pressures on budgets over the next two years caused by the recession.
Deputy leader Councillor Kevin Madge said: “I think that coming out of a recession we need to think of ratepayers and keep the figure as low as we can, but we have a lot of work to do over the next couple of years, it is going to be tough.”
Councillor Clive Scourfield warned: “We are not going to be able to continually dip into our reserves.”
Director of resources Roger Jones assured members that this was a “one off” as a result of the loss of income due to the economic downturn.
Council leader Meryl Gravell said: “The scrutiny committees have asked a lot of good questions, I think we have taken it as far as we can; 2.9 per cent is a really good level of council tax.”
Councillor Pam Palmer added: “2.9 per cent this year is low but we are coming out of a recession. Hopefully this time next year the recession will be in recovery and it will be that much better, so now is the time to keep it as low as we can realistically.”
The total council budget for 2010/11 comes to just over £312 million, with the taxpayer contributing around £60 million.
The authority is to receive an increase of just 1.8 per cent in its settlement from the Assembly.
In addition to the council tax on county council services, residents also contribute to the costs of both Dyfed Powys Police and their own local town/community council.
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