Denbighshire approves 2.95% increase in Council Tax

Denbighshire County Council has approved its budget for the 2022/23 financial year.

At a meeting yesterday the financial package, which includes raising Council Tax by 2.95%, was agreed.

As part of the budget process the council’s draft settlement announced by Welsh Government suggests Denbighshire’s budget will rise by 9.2% for the 2022/23 financial year, with increases of 3.3% and 2.2% the following two years.

The increase in funding comes with a number of new responsibilities the council will be required to fund, including pay rises, ensuring the Real Living Wage for social care workers and mitigation for the end of the Covid Hardship Fund.

The council therefore has a funding gap of £2.623million to fill for the coming financial year.

Proposals to fill this gap include operational efficiencies amounting to £634,000 and an increase in Council Tax of 2.95%.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, said: “We have now completed the budget process for the 2022/23 financial year.

“It comes after a second difficult year dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, which has put an additional strain on resources.

“We took a balanced approach to this year’s budget which aimed to recognise and remedy service pressures in order to build resilience, to ensure services were challenged to deliver efficient services, to minimise the impact of proposals on services users while keeping Council Tax increases as low as practicable.

“We have previously made a firm commitment to Denbighshire residents to try and protect services that the public value and expect as much as possible.

“The council has a strong track record of doing this and we have tried to lead by example by being as efficient and effective as possible, reducing our budgets and making savings through better ways of working.”