Caerphilly Residents: Have your say on budget proposals

Caerphilly county borough council has agreed to consult on its draft budget proposals for 2025/26, as part of ongoing plans to plug a £47million gap in finances over the next 3 years.

The council’s Cabinet agreed today (Thursday 16 January) to launch a period of public consultation from 22 January for 3 weeks to gather feedback from the local community.

One of the proposals in the report is a one-off use of council reserves in 2025/26 totalling £4.3million. Caerphilly has healthy reserves at present, the majority of which are ring-fenced and ear-marked for specific schemes. However, a small element of the funds can be used as a contingency if required.

Other permanent and temporary savings totalling £21.4million have also been identified to help balance the budget for 2025/26.

Another key recommendation is to increase Council Tax by 7.9% for 2025/26.This would increase the Band D precept from £1,446.37 to £1,560.63 (ie an annual increase of £114.26 or weekly increase of £2.20).

Even with a 7.9% council tax increase, it is likely that Caerphilly will remain one of the lowest council tax rates in the whole of Wales.

The following drop-in sessions have been arranged as part of the consultation. Links to the online survey will be published on 22 January when the consultation is formally launched: