Machynlleth Town Council approved the 2026/27 budget without the correct figures.

At the January council meeting, councillors argued on how they could vote through a budget without the correct figures, after discovering that the spreadsheet in front of them was full of errors.

Despite this, councillors voted through the budget after running out of time to send their request to Powys County Council.

Three and a half weeks after the meeting the council produced the final figures for the Cambrian News, requesting a £369,045 precept from council tax, representing a £5.99 increase caused by the precept for the average Band D household in Machynlleth.

This is up from £364,199 for 2025/26, and £365,200 for 2024/25.

A precept is the amount of money taken from the county council tax to pay for the running of the town council and its assets, including the Georgian mansion Y Plas and grounds, and the iconic Victorian clocktower.

Mayor Jeremy Paige said in the meeting on 26 January that he “was not confident” that the figures they were voting on were correct.

Councillor Gareth Jones expressed his disapproval, stating: “The figures are flawed to begin with - we’ve just been told they’ve changed three times in the last six weeks.

“We’re talking about the money that belongs to the people of Machynlleth - their council taxes.

“Personally, I’m not confident in supporting this [budget].

“I don’t feel I can unless assurance is given.”

Councillor Gwenan Phillips confirmed that “these figures aren’t what we discussed”, “the bottom line is we’re changing figures we don’t know are correct, and need to get the budget in.”

Councillor Norma McCarten said: “I understood after the last finance meeting that the town clerk would go away and deal with the concerns raised - have they not been dealt with?

“I’m unclear about whose responsible for setting these figures.”

Confusion ensued as to why requests hadn’t been followed, having been in discussion since November, why budget lines hadn’t been changed, and why the council should “spend money on allotments we don’t own”.

Councillor Llinos Griffiths questioned why the council was paying for the Y Plas Cafe when it was running at a significant loss, according to the budget.

The budget passed, with several abstentions and Councillor Griffiths and Gareth Jones voting against.

Machynlleth has consistently had the highest council tax in Powys, with residents paying a band D average of £2550.51 for the 2025/26 financial year.

Machynlleth’s precept is the fifth highest in the large county, and disproportionate to its population size of 2,163 (from the 2021 census)

Newtown (with a 2021 population of 11,000), Welshpool (6,600), Brecon (8,300), and Ystradgynlais (8,300) all requested larger precepts for 2022/23.

Machynlleth’s 2023 precept was similar to Caernarfon’s (9,800) and Llandrindod Wells’ (5,435), despite having over double the population.

It has not yet been announced how much the overall figures for Powys council tax will rise for the next financial year.