Council tax rise of 28% or cuts needed in Pembrokeshire, officer warns

Pembrokeshire faces another inflation-busting increase in council tax or big job cuts, councillors have been warned.

Finance director Jon Haswell said council tax would need to rise by 28% to meet service needs in the wake of a 0.4% cut in Welsh Government funding.

Bob Kilmister, the cabinet member responsible for finance, said the picture looked "pretty grim".

Last year Pembrokeshire's council tax went up by 12.5% - the first double-digit increase in Wales since 2004.

However, council leaders defended it by pointing out it was still the lowest council tax in Wales.

At an audit committee meeting on Thursday, Councillor Jacob Williams asked Mr Kilmister if the authority had a plan for "mass redundancies", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Mr Kilmister said he could not answer with "any clarity" until council officers gave their assessment of service priorities, but warned the status quo was "not an option".

"There's no way in we can meet the budget requirement we have got without affecting the number of people we employ," he said.

"Have we got a clear, costed plan at the moment for that? No."

Mr Haswell warned that on current predictions, based on the Welsh Government's standard spending assessment of what it thinks the council needs, council tax would need to rise by 28% unless services were cut.

"It's more difficult than last year," he said.

Mr Kilmister added: "We might possibly be in a better position than some others but it's still pretty grim."

Five of the 22 Welsh councils face the biggest funding cut of 1%, while six promised an increase will not see their grants keep pace with inflation.