Council Tax Shocker For North Wales Residents
Written by Harry Turnbull
Flintshire residents are set to be hit by a whopping 9.5% increase in council tax.
The shocking news follows a government funding settlement that was the fourth lowest among all 22 local authorities in Wales.
In addition to the tax hike, other financial concerns mean the schools budget is being slashed by £2.9m.
A Senedd decision resulted in a campaign that secured an additional £1.2m in funding, but councillors say this won’t scratch the surface, as the council is on target for a £23m deficit in the next year.
Councillors clashed over the budget at a crucial council meeting, but the coalition administration was forced to come up with a compromise.
Council leader Cllr Dave Hughes said, “This is undoubtedly a difficult decision, but it is vital that we continue to meet the growing demands of our community.
“As a result of nearly two decades of underfunding from national governments, Flintshire County Council has had to reduce its spending by £125m.
“Nearly 70 per cent of the council’s money comes from the Welsh Government, and despite continuous lobbying of ministers, Flintshire is once again one of the lowest-funded councils in Wales. If we received the Welsh average, we would be £173 better off per person, which amounts to around £26.9 million overall.
“Like the rest of Wales, we continue to be exposed to increasing demand for services such as homelessness, social services, and Streetscene. This demand is not easing, and we will continue to put pressure on the Welsh Government to secure fair funding for the people of Flintshire.”
But Lib Dem leader Cllr Andrew Parkhurst said there were alternative options: “Flintshire schools already receive less per child than almost every other Welsh authority.
“This is just not acceptable, particularly at a time when many families are struggling financially and when they see money still being wasted—like the colossal £800,000 taken from contingency reserves and spent on cleaning up illegally dumped waste on the council’s own land.”
Without balanced books, external monitoring forces would have been brought in by the government.
Cllr Carol Ellis of the True Independents group said, “It’s just a bad situation. We seem forever to be passing on the costs to the residents.”
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