Budget Cuts and 12.5% Rate Rise
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If 1% on the rates brings in an extra 600,000 then even a 12.5% increase will only bring in an extra 7.5 million still leaving a huge deficit in the budget.
Part of the problem has been created by the Senedd , they have wasted millions which could have been shared between all the Councils in Wales. Purchase of Cardiff Airport , the 20mph scheme , the proposal to increase Senedd membership to 96 and universal free school meals to name just four.
What’s done can’t be undone without extra cost. Reviewing the 20mph scheme together with alterations will cost , so probably now it has been done leave it alone. The increase in Senedd members can be stopped if there is a will. Unlikely to happen though. The Senedd has also made some poor decisions when giving out subsidies to companies that later fail.
The Council is in a very difficult position, we will all face a big council tax rise together with service level cuts. A difficult sell even for seasoned politicians !
So can you tell me what percentage rate rise have other councils in Wales having?So now we are getting used to that type of rise they will put another one on us in 12 months time and then they are looking at rebanding so the people higher up can pay for the lower bands who do not pay as they are claiming universal credit.Or are we having extra costs for our city status as our leaders local and in Cardiff would never tell us the truth.
… “Part of the problem has been created by the Senedd ..” … or more accurately, it’s created by the chronic underfunding of local government by central UK Government which then trickles over to Wales having less finds to allocate to Welsh councils.
It’s too easy to fall for the usual tripe about Welsh funding when 86% of the funds comes from the UK government who (under this political environment) have no interests in Wales being adequately funded. Look what they did with HS2 with Crewe being the excuse to deny matched funds to Wales. A loss of billions of funding to our rail network.
40 Tory MP’s are rumoured to be asking for more LGA funds so it’s not the Welsh Government, it’s endemic from the top for the whole of the UK. Moaning about the costs of the 20mph limit should be put into context to the BILLIONS of OUR money wasted centrally.
I don’t buy into the “it’s the Welsh Government” which gets hurled around at the drop of a hat. The money has to come from somewhere and until the taxes and monies raised from the resources in Wales, staying in Wales, the buck stops where the funding comes from.
The Westminster government have given the Senedd money to match the English business rates subsidy , for those that qualify , of 75%. However Mark Drakeford announced it would not use the money for that purpose, he has reduced the subsidy in Wales for those qualifying businesses to 40%. Where is he spending the rest of the money? Small businesses in Wales will have to spend 35% more from April , on their business rates compared to those over the border in England, and the labour government in Wales is totally to blame.
Senedd Finance Committee warned budget cuts could see thousands of council redundancies across Wales
The Senedd still fail to understand that their poor budget management is causing major problems for all the county councils in Wales not just Wrexham. They still have vanity projects and will continue with them at any price, the expansion of members to 96 being the next one. How much will it cost per year to support this expansion? Is it a real need or just a want ?
https://www.wrexham.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/socialbudget.jpeg
On the budgetary forecast point 13 , can anyone explain the spending on “corporate parenting” ? It’s a huge amount of money over £31,000,000.
So how many children are we talking about whose parental care is the responsibility of Wrexham County Council ? Does it just cover children in care and foster care?
I see Cardiff looking at a 3 percent increase in council tax you can not make it up.Just imagine the North South divide if Wales had Independence
So the final increase looks like being 9.9% , still leaving a gap in the budget of nearly 2 million ! So looks like the original 12.5% was nearer the mark, as 1% brings in £600,000.
The increase in the “corporate parenting” budget this year has been nearly £9 million pounds, totalling over £31 million pounds being spent. Why was there such a huge increase in cost this year and will it be an ongoing problem ? Is this money being paid to local authority providers or out of county private provision? Is Wrexham facing a higher demand for this type of provision than other councils ?
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