Following the announcement of the budget deal between the Welsh Labour Government and the Liberal Democrat member, Jane Dodds MS, local members Elin Jones MS and Ben Lake MP have expressed dismay that the uplift in Ceredigion’s settlement only amounted to 0.2%.
This is well below the average settlement for councils at 4.5%. This will inevitably mean that Ceredigion County Council will continue to face a challenging financial situation.
Speaking after the announcement, Elin Jones MS said: “This is a miniscule uplift for Ceredigion Council and will give the Council very little flexibility to ease its budgetary pressures. By having a lower than average uplift from Welsh Government, the effect of this will be felt by the important local services and the council taxpayers in Ceredigion. If the funding floor had matched the average increase of 4.3%, as had been hoped, then the pressure on services and taxpayers in Ceredigion would have been much eased.”
Ben Lake MP added: "It is disappointing once again that rural councils are being disproportionately underfunded by the Labour Welsh Government. There seems to be an inherent bias in the funding formula against rural areas and this needs to be investigated and rectified. Council taxpayers in rural areas are having to pay more than their fair share and this is increasingly unsustainable.”
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