Anglesey 9.5% council tax hike 'no easy decision'

Services have been cut to the bone, says council leader Llinos Medi

Anglesey councillors have backed a 9.5% council tax hike, despite opposition claims the increase is too high.

It means the tax bill for a Band D property will go up by £108 to £1,248 plus police and community council charges.

Llinos Medi, leader of the ruling Plaid Cymru/Independent executive, said it "wasn't a sudden or easy decision".

"Services have been cut to the bone, good staff have been let go and budgets slashed," she said.

Under the original plan for a 6% rise in council tax, the education budget would have been cut by £1.7m.

With the bigger increase, schools will now be asked to cut £800,000, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Peter Rogers, a member of the Anglesey Independents opposition group, said the 9.5% increase was "ridiculous", claiming Anglesey was an asset-rich county which could have found more savings.

Funding from the Welsh Government - which covers just under three-quarters of the council's £135m budget - has been cut by 0.3% for 2019-20.

The Welsh Government claimed it had offered councils "the best settlement possible in this ninth year of austerity".