CEREDIGION Council needs to modernise education, social services and increase the fees it charges to balance its budget, the authority’s leader has warned.

The council is expecting a 3.4 per cent cut in the funding it receives from the Welsh Government.

A final announcement is not expected until March, but Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn said the authority was preparing for the worst and expecting to have to find savings of more than £8m.

Cllr ap Gwynn has warned that will mean major service changes, cuts to some services and increases to fees as the council looks to find savings as well as increase the amount of income it brings in.

She said: “I don’t foresee that the county council will be in the position we’d like to be in for many years to come, but we must make sure we live within our budget, even though it is being squeezed.

“Life isn’t getting any easier and the options are getting more and more restricted each year. The money isn’t there to do everything we want. We must watch the pennies and look at our services and make them more efficient.”

Council Cabinet members heard that the authority has identified a range of possible cuts to find the money needed to balance the budget, including scrapping vacant posts in a range of departments, increasing the cost of the meals on wheels service and reviewing the future of council-owned residential homes.

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