COUNCIL tax payers in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire could be expected to keep paying higher bills than residents in Pembrokeshire, even if the old Dyfed authority is resurrected.

Pembrokeshire currently has the lowest council tax of the three counties with a Band D bill costing £1,029 in 2015/16, compared to £1,300 in Ceredigion and the figure of Carmarthenshire at £1,348, the highest of the three counties.

But a report released along the Draft Local Government Bill, which proposes the three authorities merge to recreate the old Dyfed, says that to ensure “harmonisation” of bills, residents in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire could be expected to pay higher council tax bills than those in Pembrokeshire over a specific time period leading up to the merger.

The report says that could also be reversed to see residents in areas where they pay a higher council tax be presented with lower bills.

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