A council tax rise in Ceredigion has been recommended to stay at 4.75 per cent, with a mooted cut instead being used to provide extra funding for swimming pools.

A meeting earlier this month heard that a council tax rise in Ceredigion could fall slightly again, after a fresh grant emerged that is likely to push a planned increase of 4.75 per cent down to 4.7 per cent.

The Welsh Government’s provisional settlements in its draft budget for county councils in Wales saw Ceredigion earmarked for a 2.3 per cent increase in funding from April next year – the lowest among all 22 local authorities.

That initial settlement figure saw Ceredigion finance chiefs outline a near seven per cent increase to council tax from next year to balance the books – down from a first mooted 8.9 per cent rise.

But a Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru agreement hashed out in December to allow the budget for 2026-27 to pass saw an extra £112.8m in additional funding for local government in 2026-27.

The new funding means that Ceredigion County Council will now receive a 4.1 per cent rise in their settlements for April – still the lowest in Wales but almost double the initial settlement, allowing the council to mitigate the effect of spiralling costs amid service cuts and council tax rises.

A meeting of the council’s corporate resources overview and scrutiny committee heard that financial support towards the Mid and West Wales Fire Service Levy had dropped the expected council tax increase to 4.7 per cent.

At a meeting of the council’s Cabinet on 10 February, members were asked to recommend one of two options for full decision in March.

The options were the originally planned 4.75 per cent rate or an increase of 4.69 per cent.

An amendment proposed by the Healthier Communities Overview and Scrutiny committee was the basis of retaining the 4.75 per cent rise – using that money to fund the running of swimming pools in the county.

The plan will see £30,000 of new funding a year to Calon Tysul, the trust operating the swimming pool in Llandysul, and £11,000 of additional funding a year to the Aberaeron & District Swimming Pool Trust, taking that trust’s basic funding to £30,000.

A report for Cabinet members said: “This proposal does contribute towards the council’s Corporate Wellbeing Objective of ‘Creating Caring and Healthy Communities’ and the National Wellbeing goal of ‘A healthier Wales’.

“In addition, basic due diligence has been undertaken based on the latest available financial accounts available and any award of funding would be subject to confirmation that each Trust intends to continue trading for the foreseeable future.”

Aberaeron councillor Elizabeth Evans said there had been “brutal cuts” in previous budgets, but stressed the importance of investment in services, saying: “When we invest in our services as we did last year the benefits to residents are immediate.”

The budget for 2026/27 – including any council tax rise – will be decided upon by full council at a meeting on 2 March.