A COUNCIL tax rise of 7.9 per cent that was compared to the “price of a cup of tea” has been passed by councillors.

A band D council tax bill in Monmouthshire will now be £1,818.26 a year from April with one councillor defending the rise as working out as £2.50 a week for households in those properties.

Independent councillor for Usk and Llanbadoc Meirion Howells said he was pleased education and social care, which make up two thirds of the council’s budget are seeing increases, and supported the decision to raise council tax.

“Nobody likes to see council tax increase but the increase is approximately £2.50 a week for a band D household,” said Cllr Howells who also welcomed there were no major cuts in the budget.

The council is saving £5 million but removed plans to reduce the opening hours of its hubs and libraries, following opposition during the public consultation, though a full review will still be undertaken to “establish if the service is working in the most effective way”.

Monmouthshire is run by a Labour-led cabinet, with one Green Party member, and it is putting an extra £1m towards schools as well as increasing budgets for children’s care, including raising payments to foster carers, and adult social care.

It will also make use of a new Welsh Government borrowing fund to invest £2m in repairing potholes and improving pavements, though the meeting was told the council’s estimated backlog for highways repairs is £80m.

Conservative Tony Kear, who also represents Usk and Llanbadoc, hit back at how the rise had been described and said he’d heard the Gwent Police precept, which is £377.31 for a band D home, compared to the cost of a cup of tea.

Cllr Kear said an 81-year-old woman had cried on the phone to him over council tax increasing, with other bills, and said: “£2.50 a week. I’ve heard that described as ‘only a cup of tea’, for some people that means a lot and shouldn’t be dismissed”.

A number of Conservative councillors complained council tax is rising along with other household bills and group leader Richard John said council parking charges will increase by 10 per cent before a review is conducted.

The Conservatives also complained the council hasn’t controlled its spending and that Monmouthshire is disadvantaged by the Welsh Government’s local government funding formula.

Cllr Frances Taylor, leader of the Independent Group, said she wasn’t convinced the council was aware of the impact of changes it is making in social care on elderly residents, despite its impact assessments.

She said the council’s finances remain vulnerable as though the Welsh Government provided additional funding, at the last minute, it hasn’t changed its formula.

Deputy leader Paul Griffiths said the council had successfully lobbied for extra funds and complained opposition councillors had compared the council tax rise to English authorities, where increases are capped by central government.

The Chepstow Labour councillor said: “As local democrats, do members want to argue for the system in England where Treasury sets council tax?”

Green Party cabinet member Ian Chandler said contrary to claims by the Conservatives the council is changing how it works in high spending children’s care and adult services, to make savings, and improve services while cabinet member for finance Ben Callard said Tory leader Cllr John hadn’t said which services he would cut to lower council tax.

Leader Mary Ann Brocklesby said the proposal to increase funding to schools, which are headed for a collective £6m deficit, had been praised by one headteacher who told her “you have given us hope for the first time in 10 years”.

The Llanelly Hill Labour councillor described the budget as “absolutely rooted in tackling inequality, the climate and nature emergencies and working with our communities”.