Lower council tax hikes and service cuts suggested

A better-than-expected government settlement could see a smaller council tax rise and less impactful cuts, councillors have suggested.
Gwynedd was one of the biggest winners in Monday’s Welsh Government draft budget for 2020/21, receiving the sixth highest increase of Wales’ 22 authorities.
Next year the county will receive an additional 4.6% – representing an extra £8m into council coffers which, crucially, covers inflation.
But despite warning that the council was “not out of the woods yet,” cabinet members suggested that residents could see a lesser than expected council tax rise and that service cuts may end up being less harsh than had originally been anticipated.
During Tuesday’s meeting in Caernarfon, members were told that £2m of cuts had originally been earmarked for 2020/21 but that the above inflation increase could see these cuts reduced to efficiency savings only and not necessarily those that would impact on the general population.
Of the £2m of originally earmarked cuts, councillors had expressed concern over certain aspects, including slashing school spending by £728,080.
Alarmed at the scale, the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee had refused to recommend such cuts after being warned it would likely lead to a reduction in the number of teachers and/or ancillary staff, which would likely result in a detrimental impact on educational standards.
The biggest bone of contention was a reduction of £463,900 by amending the pupil teacher ratio  – the formula that works out how many staff are required per pupil.
Meanwhile, the Care Scrutiny Committee had also raised concern over a proposed reduction of £30,000 in the grant to Women’s Aid and further cuts to the mental health budget and services for carers.
But speaking on Tuesday the Chief Executive, Dilwyn Williams, welcomed the “best settlement in a decade” but warned that the authority still faces substantial pressures in the fields of education, children’s and adult services which would not be met by the increase – of which around £7.7m would be swallowed up by inflation.
Cllr Dafydd Meurig, accepting that the settlement was only a draft document at this stage, suggested that residents may be looking at a council tax rise of between 3-3.5% if only half of the two million pounds of earmarked cuts were actually implemented.
It’s expected that number crunchers will now reconsider the proposed cuts, followed by a public consultation in the new year.

By Gareth Williams – Local Democracy Reporter