Pembrokeshire council taxpayers are expected to be facing a 9.85 per cent increase in their bills when council meets today, taking the average annual bill to well over £2,000, but alternative proposals could see that rise by just 7.5 per cent.

Last month, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet backed recommending a council tax increase of 9.85 per cent, with a special meeting due to decide that on February 20.

That meeting was deferred to March 6, in part awaiting the final Welsh Government local government settlement, which saw the county gain a small amount of extra money, worth roughly an extra £500,000, reducing its funding gap to £26.9m.

“Although an improvement on previous budget assumptions, £26.9m is a very significant funding gap that will need to be met through a combination of budget savings, an increase in Council Tax, use of Council Tax premiums and use of reserves, albeit this is not recommended as a financially sustainable option,” a report for members recommending the 9.85 per cent increase says.

The extra money has been used to reduce budget saving requirements of the Individual Schools Budget, while neighbouring council Ceredigion has used a similar settlement to lower its council tax increase by 0.6 per cent.

Pressures faced by Pembrokeshire include an assumed additional £4.9m pressure relating to the increase in ‘direct’ employers’ national insurance contributions and the national insurance element of the increase in Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Authority levy.

The most significant pressure for the 2025-26 budget is demand for Social Care across both Adult and Children’s Services, with a projected total increase in pressure of £25.6m (most likely scenario) for Social Care for 2025-26 representing 58.9 per cent of the total council service pressures for 2025-26.

This increase sees the Social Care budget surpassing the Education budget for the first time.

With the council budget D-day looming, opposition groups the Independent group and the Conservative group have submitted their own proposals for the March 6 meeting.

As well as other changes, in simple council tax terms the Independent Group is proposing a 9.35 per cent increase and the Conservative group a 7.5 per cent one, achieved in part using a higher proportion of the second homes council tax premium for certain parts of the budget.

For many years Pembrokeshire has had the lowest Band D Council Tax in Wales.

Following the 12.5 per cent increase in 2024-25 Pembrokeshire moved to the fourth lowest council tax in Wales with a base Band D Council Tax of £1,510.72 per year, before town and community council and police precepts were added.

For the average Band D property, a 9.85 per cent rise adds £148.81 to that bill.

For this coming year, the Dyfed-Powys Police precept part of the overall council tax bill is rising by 8.6 per cent, bringing the rate for a Band D property to £360.68.

That means, if the 9.85 per cent rate is backed, the average Band D council tax bill, before individual town or community council precepts are added, would be £2,020.21.

The Independent and Conservative figures would see the council tax bill rise by £141.25 and £113.30 respectively; meaning the Conservative proposal would save the average taxpayer £35.51 this year.

Ceredigion County Council has backed a 9.3 per cent increase.

In that county, the average Band D property, before adding town and community council precepts, is £2,247.25.