Ceredigion residents will be asked to dip into their pockets to find more than £100 a year each to fund a council budget shortfall of more than £12m as a more than 7 per cent hike in council tax is mooted by authority chiefs.

In a report set to go before Ceredigion County Council Cabinet members at a meeting this morning, a recommendation has been made to raise the tax burden on residents by 7.3 per cent from April.

Other options being considered are 6.3 per cent and 8.3 per cent – with 1.3 per cent of any of the options being used to fund a 13 per cent rise in the Fire Authority budget, with that cost being passed on to residents.

A 7.3 per cent raise would see an average resident paying out another £105.72 a year.

The average Band D property would pay £1,553.60 in 2023/24 for the county council element of council tax, up from £1,447.90 in the current year.

The recommendation to ask residents to find extra money to keep services running comes despite an 8.1 per cent uplift in Welsh Government funding.

The council said that while that boost was “welcomed”, the budget remained “extremely challenging”, with cost pressures being faced by the council total “unprecedented.”

“A budget shortfall of £12m needs to be found from a combination of budget savings and council tax increase considerations,” the report outlines.

“The leader and the Cabinet are, as all councillors are, acutely aware of the impact that the cost of living is having on household personal finances.

“It is proposed that council tax increases for 2023/24 are kept below the current rate of inflation and limited to no more than an additional £10.02 per month for the county council element.

“The leader and the Cabinet are therefore recommending that a draft proposed council tax increase in the range of 6.3 per cent to 8.3 per cent is put forward for further scrutiny.

“This includes a 1.3 per cent element in relation to the proposed Fire Authority levy increase.

“The leader and the Cabinet’s preferred option in this range is a 7.3 per cent proposed council tax increase, which equates to an average of an additional £8.81 per month for the county council element.”

The report outlines that the council has identified around £22m of cost pressures, which equates to 13.4 per cent of the 2022/23 budget.

“This level of cost pressure is extraordinary and exceeds the £13m seen in last year’s budget,” the report outlines.

The overall council budget planned for 2023/24 is just over £180m, with council staff set to identify cost savings and service cuts in a bid to fill the shortfall.

The council is facing costs including an extra £5m for social care, including £2.5m for a Real Living Wage pay rise for social care workers, along with an estimated £8.7m in council staff pay rise costs including teachers.

Rises in fuel, food and energy costs are set to cost an additional £2.1m, with an extra £1.1m needed for a rise in transportation costs.

The report is due to go before council scrutiny committees in February before final budget decisions are made.

A decision on the final budget is expected to be made at a full council meeting on Friday, 3 March after the Welsh Government provide its final budget settlement at the end of February.­