Merthyr Tydfil council tax up 6% to balance the budget

Residents of Merthyr Tydfil will see council tax rise by just under 6% from April to help plug a budget gap.

Bills for a Band D household will go up by £90 to £1,590, not including charges for police and community councils.

Voluntary redundancies and an extra 20p on school meals are among the measures being taken to balance the books.

Welsh Government funding - which covers three-quarters of the independent-led council's £120m spending - is going up by 0.8%, below the rate of inflation.

Council chief executive Gareth Chapman told the cabinet ahead of the full council meeting it was one of the most difficult years he had seen in local government, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The authority faces a budget deficit of £14.9m over the next four years, according to a council report.

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