SHARING Chief Executives with another council, using AI and cutting the number of top earners have all been proposed in a bid to cut down a potential near 10 per cent tax hike from April in Ceredigion.

Councillors are currently debating the proposal put forward to up council tax bills by 9.9 per cent.

During a Thriving Communities meeting on Friday, Llanrhystud councillor, Gwyn Wigley Evans, proposed a raft of money saving options, from scrapping the cabinet, sharing the chief executive with another council and cutting the number of directors.

Chief executive Eifion Evans earns £137,000 annually, with Ceredigion County Council's corporate director, Barry Rees, earning £120,500.

Cllr Evans said: “The Leader and Gareth Davies, Cabinet member for Finance and Procurement Services, said they had looked in detail for money saving possibilities without getting rid of services

“I asked had they given thought to what Dr Chris Llywelyn WLGA CEO said to the council recently, that Blaenau Gwent had been imaginative in saving money by sharing their Chief Executive with Torfaen.

“They had not.

“I asked do we need two directors as unfortunately we only have one at the moment and the wheels have not come off

“I asked do we need a Cabinet? Apparently if not we would have a mayor, is it cheaper? Is it better?

“The main point is that they have not thought of these options.

“When job sharing with other counties was mentioned they immediately mentioned the three counties, the old Dyfed and how bad it would be, what about Powys or Gwynedd.

“There is job sharing with Powys but only because of the Mid Wales Growth Deal and grant from Cardiff, nothing else outside of this.

“Use of AI could reduce staff massively and cannot be stopped, whilst they want to keep staff, it's coming and should be here already.

“Offering early retirement or just leaving the job is not considered as there are implications with pensions but they sent a letter to all the heads of schools asking the question, they did not ask the support and back office although Barry Rees said there was a letter ready and even worse, no other department at all has had the letter, is that discrimination or bullying even, the teachers are livid.”

The leader of the independents on Ceredigion County Council, Rhodri Evans, has also written to the cabinet voicing concerns over the tax hike.

Cllr Evans said: “It has been raised by the group on several occasions, now and in the past, that staff rationalisation should be identified as savings for this year's budget setting process. Ceredigion County Council has a controllable budget of close to £200 million, of which around 64% of this spend is on employment costs. This equates to circa £120 million!

“It is not acceptable that Ceredigion residents are facing yet again another year, where the council tax rise currently forecasted at 9.6%.

“The Independent group voted against the budget last year, because several of the cost cutting options were felt to be unachievable. This assumption has transpired to be correct with several saving options identified for last year have still not materialised!

“We feel strongly that the council tax, if set at the suggested 9.6% level, is unsustainable, unpalatable and needs to be reduced. We are of the view that if our proposal is agreed, as set out below, we could achieve a significant reduction in the proposed Council Tax.

“As a group, we feel strongly that the council tax should not be set higher than the Ceredigion specific inflation factor as quoted by the section 151 officer of 6.1%.

“We feel that the proposed investment in two service areas i.e. Platinum standard for the Planning Enforcement service and the reinstatement of investment in waste collection service is essential.

“We have consistently suggested that the authority needs to identify a reduction in our staffing costs and that these should be identified from employees that earn more than £45k p.a. Determining where these reductions come from, needs to be identified by departments as this is an operational function.

“Also we believe as a group that collaborative working with other Local Authorities should be explored to its full potential to generate mutual savings.

“The independent group are adamant that school staffing and their budgets are not to be identified for savings, and neither should any frontline council employees.

“Another of our major concerns are the costs attributed to agency staff and progress to negate this considerable outlay of our limited finances. This requires the urgent attention of officers and more resources to achieve a satisfactory outcome.

“I feel that it is important and appropriate that we highlight these points now, and in advance of the scrutiny process, thereby allowing you and your Cabinet an opportunity to address and reflect on where these savings could be made.

“All Local authorities and other public bodies are facing similar financial pressures, and most of these are proposing staffing cuts as part of their budget setting scenarios.”