Local councillors have urged the people of Tenby to ‘have their say’ on the county’s budget consultation for 2018/19.

The draft county council budget for 2018-19 has been developed against a backdrop of four years of reduced financial settlements and significant workforce, pay, inflation and demographic pressures, resulting in a cumulative funding gap of £52.2 million (between 2014/15 and 2017/18).

The funding gap was bridged by a combination of £9m additional income from Council Tax increases (including base charges) and £42.6m in cost reductions/efficiences/service transformation and a £0.6m contribution from the Council Tax second homes income.

A further £11.2m of proposed cuts have been identified to be delivered within the financial year 2018/19, with three options recommended to address the £16.9m funding gap currently being considered:

Option 1 - a proposed Council Tax increase of five per cent, to generate £2.2m; Option 2 - eight per cent, to generate £3.6m; and Option 3 - 12.5 per cent to generate £5.7m.

All of the options will result in some level of reduction in current service provision, with the higher percentage increase in Council Tax, resulting in a smaller impact on services.

Speaking at Tuesday night’s meeting of Tenby Town Council, Clr. Paul Rapi urged the the public to view the consultation proposals on Pembrokeshire County Council’s website at www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/have-your-say/budget-consultation-2018-2019 and to give their views.

“This information we have is a little wodge of a very big wodge,” he told his fellow councillors after viewing the correspondence that came before the meeting.

“Personally, I think if we accept the option of a five per cent increase in council tax, then there will be a lot of redundancies, so I think that a 12.5 per cent increase is the only way to go forward to survive.

“We need to gain ground and there are only so many cuts to services that you can make.

“We need to stand up and shout more and getting the people involved now to put forward their views is the only way that can be done.

“We’ve all had these letters delivered to our homes, so I suggest people fill in their views or get on the PCC website, look at the information, understand it, answer the questionnaire and your views will be heard!” added Clr. Rapi.

The town clerk, Andrew Davies, told members that some of the proposals made would impact on the precept of town and community councils, as there would likely be cuts to services such as street cleansing and litter collections.

Ideas to recharge the costs of elections and to transfer parks and open spaces to town and community councils had also been put forward, he said.

“There may not be a direct impact on our budget this year, but certainly in the future,” remarked Mr. Davies, who told members that PCC’s cabinet member for finance, Clr. Bob Kilmister, had recently suggested that a future conference be held to see how neighbouring town and community councils could work together to deliver services.

Clr. Laurence Blackhall said that services such as the library and leisure centre, although based in Tenby, benefited a wider area, so it would be beneficial to continue conversations with other town and community councils in the area to work with them on ways to help save cuts.

“That’s a very good idea, and something we need to do,” agreed the Mayor, Clr. Mrs. Sue Lane.

“As I said in my recent New Year message, we need people to have patience, and to work with us and support us. We do not get the revenue that the county council get, and people have got to be aware of that,” she added.

The closing date for responses to the Council Tax consultations is February 16, with a report set to go before the county council based on the findings of the survey, before a final decision will be made in March.