Flintshire council tax rise of 8.75% after cash bid fails

Flintshire councillors travelled to Cardiff Bay earlier this month to ask Welsh ministers for more money

Council tax in Labour-run Flintshire is to go up by 8.75% after a last-ditch trip to Cardiff to ask ministers for extra cash failed.

Members backed the increase to cover a budget shortfall of more than £3m.

Flintshire faces a cash cut of 0.3% in Welsh Government funding, amounting to more than £500,000.

Council leader Aaron Shotton told a meeting of his cabinet that it was the most difficult budget setting process to date.

He added that the prospects for the future were pessimistic, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Council tax for a Band D property will go up by £103.08 to £1,280.68 for the year, not including charges for the police and community councils.

• Denbighshire council tax to rise by 6.35%

• Councillors make cash plea to ministers

Flintshire was one of four Welsh councils to receive the worst cut of 0.3% in Welsh Government funding, which covers approximately three-quarters of its spending.

However, a Welsh Government spokesperson said it had offered councils "the best settlement possible in this ninth year of austerity".

Councillor Mike Peers, leader of the Independent Alliance group, called for the use of reserves to limit the council tax rise to 5.95%.

But corporate finance manager Gary Ferguson said that using reserves would result in a bigger shortfall in the following years.

Councillors voted for the increase at a meeting of the county council on Tuesday afternoon.