CEREDIGION councillors will be asked to approve a council tax rise of five per cent for the third year in a row.

Cabinet members backed increasing council tax by five per cent, insisting the authority’s poor funding settlement meant a lower council tax rise would hit services already facing funding cuts.

While the council had made financial predictions based on a council tax rise of three per cent, it emerged that a higher increase of five per cent would see the council bring in an additional £620,000 to help plug a funding gap after the authority received the second highest funding cut from the Welsh Government.

A consultation into whether the public would back a five per cent increase saw 120 say they were supportive of the above-average increase, with 172 people say they wouldn’t support a five per cent increase.

Finance Cabinet member Dafydd Edwards said he had been surprised that so many people were prepared to accept a five per cent increase.

He said: “It seems a lot of people in the county realise the financial situation we’re in. It’s quite heartening to know that people understand the reality.”

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