Flintshire County Council has announced they will be increasing council tax payments in order to bridge the £37m budget gap. 

Flintshire Council’s cabinet meets on Thursday, February 23 to make final recommendations for setting a balanced budget and council tax levels for the 2023/24 financial year. 

Their recommendations will then be presented at a full council meeting later the same day, for a final decision.

A Flintshire Council spokesman said: "As a low funded council – ranked 20 out of 22 councils in Wales – Flintshire has been particularly exposed to the effects of austerity since 2008. Despite this, over the last 14 years, Flintshire has reduced its spending by £100m.

"This year, the council received an increase in the amount of funding from Welsh Government which amounted to £19.5m for Flintshire."

They added that the increase in funding, while welcomed, must also contend with additional budget pressures faced by the council:

  • Funding of pay awards (both teacher and non-teacher) must be met by local councils;
  • As with all local authorities, the council continues to experience high and increasing demand for temporary accommodation;
  • Other financial pressures include: school transport and out of county placements for social services.  

As in previous years, the council has set a clear direction that any annual increase in council tax should be at 5% or less. 

In order to bridge the additional budget requirement of £37 million the council will be introducing a 3.99% annual increase on council tax for all council services. 

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There is also an additional 0.96% required to meet the cost of additional contributions to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, Regional Coroners Service and Regional Education Consortium GwE. 

This equates to an overall uplift of 4.95% and provides overall additional yield of £5.622m in 2023/24.

This amounts to an annual increase of £71.75 per annum and brings the amount to £1,521.33 on a Band D equivalent (£1.38 per week equivalent).

Councillor Ian Roberts, leader of the council, said: “We have worked hard to ensure that we present a balanced budget and maintain council services. 

"We are acutely aware of the financial pressures which all households are facing and have therefore kept the element of council tax relating to council service to 3.99%, when taking into account other levying bodies the overall level equates to 4.95%.” 

Councillor Paul Johnson, the council’s cabinet member for Finance, Inclusion, Resilient Communities including Social Value and Procurement, said: “Whilst the increased allocation from Welsh Government for 2023/24 is welcome, it does still present significant challenges to meet the additional responsibilities for workforce and other costs.

"Despite these challenges, we have still been able to recommend a balanced budget position to council whilst keeping the annual council tax uplift as low as possible. 

"We are a low-funded council that makes efficient use of our resources as regularly confirmed by our financial regulator Audit Wales.”