Last chance to have your say on potential council tax increase as fire authority looks to fill £1.9m gap in its budget

There are just days left to have your say on a whether local councils should help meet a £.19m shortfall to help fund the fire service – something which could be raised by an increase in council tax.

The increase locally features as part of proposals by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority, which is facing what it describes as an “unusually difficult process” of setting a balanced budget for 2019/20.

It is estimated that there will be a £1.9 million shortfall in the authority’s budget next year budget – something which could be provided by increasing the contribution from county councils.

In May 2018 Wrexham.com reported that plans to cut the number of Wrexham’s engines, along with changing the hours of the county’s second whole-time fire appliance to cover daytime hours only, had been put forward for a second time.

These plans were later ruled out for the upcoming budget plans, with the authority opting to consult on increasing the contributions from the six North Wales councils to provide an additional £1.9 million.

Currently the bulk of the authority’s annual budget is provided by contributions from all six North Wales Council’s – with the remainder being made of financial reserves and other income.

Over the past three years the authority says it has “avoided passing on the full cost to county councils and relied instead on using some of its reserves”.

Wrexham’s contribution in the current financial year is £6,654,624 – the second highest of any council in the region. This is based on population figures, with Wrexham contributing 19.87 per cent of the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority’s overall budget.

However if proposals to increase the overall cost from council’s are given the go ahead, an additional £377,273 would be provided by Wrexham Council.

This could result in an increase of £7.08 (0.65%) on council tax bills for a Band D property for residents in Wrexham to help maintain the 2 fire engines at Wrexham Fire Station

The potential council tax increase has been factored into Wrexham Council’s ongoing ‘Difficult Decision’s budget consultation, with the local authority looking to make savings of £9 million.

In the consultation (which can be found here) Wrexham Council ask the public’s views of a six per cent or more council tax increase to support the “increase in the funding to the NW Fire and Rescue Service.”

Councillor Meirick Lloyd Davies, chair of the Fire and Rescue Authority, said: “Not only are we facing some unavoidable cost increases in 2019/20, but we also need to make up for the fact that contributions from the county councils over the last three years have been kept low by taking money from our own financial reserves instead.

“Whilst using reserves in this way has worked well in the short term, the true cost of providing services has continued to increase gradually and we are reluctant to risk spending our financial reserves and leave nothing to fall back on.

“The decision we now face is whether to increase our budget by the full amount next year, and so increase the contribution from the county councils by almost £1.9 million, or to increase the budget by a smaller amount and implement cost savings so we do not risk running out of money mid-year.

“Any decision to reduce costs is going to be difficult but having carefully weighed up the alternatives for ensuring a balanced budget next year, members are minded not to pursue large scale savings as the level of risk would be too high at this time.

“Whilst we have not ruled out making savings, the scale of savings in 2019/20 would stop short of closing fire stations or making firefighters redundant.”

You can find out more about the consultation process on the North Wales Fire and Rescue Authority’s website / have your say here. Comments can be submitted until November 2nd.

*This consultation is being carried out by the North Wales Fire and Rescue Service Authority – Wrexham Council’s Difficult Decisions consultation is separate and will take place until late November.