Ceredigion residents are set to be hit with a near 10 per cent council tax increase from April, a county council report has revealed.

With Ceredigion County Council facing cost pressures upwards of £18m and a budget shortfall for 2025/26 of more than £7.5m, residents are going to be asked again to dip into their pockets to plug the gap in the authority’s finances.

While council chiefs plead with the Welsh Government to up the level of funding Ceredigion receives - a final settlement figure is due next month – a report to be put before Cabinet members on 21 January recommends either a 9.7 per cent or 9.9 per cent increase on council tax to raise an extra £2.5m.

Last year - after an 11.1 per cent increase last April – the average Band D property in Ceredigion was paying £1,726.05 to Ceredigion County Council, rising to £2,103.89 once the Police and average Town and Community Council precept elements were included.

That figure was higher than the Wales average, and is now set to climb again by around £14 a month.

The report to be out before members says: “Ceredigion has received a 3.6 per cent funding increase, which unfortunately also equates to Ceredigion receiving the lowest increase per head of population across all of Wales.

“Whilst the level of increase is higher than that modelled in the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS), it is the comparison with other Local Authorities which is leading to an over-riding sense of disappointment and continued unfairness within the funding landscape.

“Considerable lobbying is being done to make the case with the WLGA and Welsh Government that there should be a Funding Floor in the 2025/26 Local Government Final Settlement of no less than 4.3 per cent.

“At this level the benefit for Ceredigion would be the ability to lower the potential Council Tax increase by circa two per cent.

“In overall terms the 2025/26 Settlement is not as low as had been expected and the Cabinet therefore expects to be able to deliver a Council Tax increase lower than that seen in the current year.

“It is also recognised that there is, generally, a low public appetite for further reductions in service levels, however addressing that will only mean that a greater burden falls on Council Tax locally.

“It is simply not possible to balance the Budget by having low Council Tax increases and at the same time sustaining and retaining all services.

“Budgets and their associated considerations and deliberations remain difficult and at times emotive.

“It is fully accepted that Members did not come into politics in the knowledge that endless tough budget decisions would be required year after year and that at many junctures there is only a Hobson’s choice scenario.

“Striking the right balance between tough Budget decisions and proposing a palatable level of Council Tax increase is an unenviable one for Members, but it is simply not possible to avoid this dichotomy.”