At a meeting of the Council today (Thursday 25 February 2010) Members agreed the figures for this year’s budget and Council Tax bills.
Council Tax in Conwy County Borough Council has been the lowest in North Wales for a number of years and is currently the sixth lowest in England and Wales.
Council Tax in Conwy will remain one of the lowest as the Council sets a 4.7% rise. For 2010/11, Conwy County Borough Council’s part of the Band D Council Tax will be £820.16. That’s an increase of 71p a week or £36.82 for the year.
Cllr Meirion Hughes, Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources said “The disappointing 1.1% grant settlement for Conwy was expected and as a result we’ve been working on this budget for over 12 months in an effort to protect services for the public.”
“Our spend for 2010/11 at £186m is significantly below our Standard Spending Assessment, our nationally assessed need to spend of £190m. Our Band D average council of £820.16 is significantly below the Wales Standard Council Tax of £882.17, which is used in the settlement formula. To bring our Council Tax in line with the Wales Standard Council Tax, and to meet our SSA, would have required an increase over 13%.
Our 4.7% therefore entails tough budgetary discipline.”
“To achieve this budget, £4.266m of savings have been made across the authority and we face significant financial challenges over the next few years.”
Cllr Hughes added, “We believe this is a robust budget for 2010/11.”
