A Tenby councillor has taken aim at the previous Tory regime for the current financial mess that Local Authorities find themselves in.

Tenby Town Council members recently agreed to set a gross expenditure budget for 2025/26 of £419,438.91; and got around the table once again in January to finalise the budget and set the precept.

With the Council Tax base for 2025/26 less than last year (down to 3345.56 from 3529.73), this would result in a Band D equivalent precept levy of £94.12, an increase of £15.35 (19.5%), councillors were told.

The clerk Andrew Davies explained that the drop in the Council Tax base had created a major potential increase for ratepayers.

“Full council proposed using reserves to help bridge that gap. Looking at utilising already earmarked reserves to meet some budgetary costs, if we add a further £40K that is already sitting in earmarked reserve pot for Special Projects in the Community, it will reduce the precept requirement further,” he explained, suggesting releasing £97,773.90 from earmarked funds to reduce the precept requirement, meaning that Council Tax would have to increase by about 3%.

Mayor Cllr Dai Morgan felt that this was the best situation in a tight squeeze. He was not a fan of lowering Council Tax as this stored up problems for the future.

“We could be a lot worse off. We should be using reserves for their intended purposes instead of stock piling. We still have a surplus of £50k sitting there for emergencies,” he said.

Cllr Laurence Blackhall favoured one of the other funding scenarios outlined by the clerk which was for slightly less allocation from the Special Project reserves and a 5.4% increase rather than 3%.

“The reason we’re having to revise is that Council Tax base has gone down. This is largely due to Pembrokeshire County Council’s changes to the second homes premium,” he remarked.

“Cllr Rhys Jordan [local Welsh Conservative county councillor] suggested we use reserves to carry out work on Castle Hill.

“After years of neglect by Pembrokeshire County Council, he suggests we should pick up the tab again.

“It is reckless to use up all our reserves and I propose to keep a slight buffer with a slightly larger percentage rise of 5.4%.

“Fourteen years of Conservative Government have created funding difficulties for Pembrokeshire County Council. They seem to be in permanent financial crisis,” continued Cllr Blackhall.

“Tenby Town Council have managed their finances very effectively and because of this have been able to bail PCC out on floral displays, toilets, operating the library and a range of other things.

“Because we have managed things effectively we are able to keep our budget low for the people of Tenby,” he added.

Cllr Blackhall proposed that the Town Council look to release £91,303.76 funding from reserves to meet projected expenditure not funded from projected income and set a precept requirement of £277, 871.33 (5.4%).

He was seconded by Tenby’s Mayor.