Residents in Mid Wales are facing council tax bills of more than £1,000 for the first time, if Powys County Council approves its proposal for the next financial year.
Band D property owners in Llanidloes would be hardest-hit, paying £1,026.49, while those in Machynlleth would pay £1,020.19 and in Welshpool £1,007.12.
The highest bill in Radnorshire would be in Llandrindod Wells, where Band D residents would pay £989.70.
Communities with the lowest bills would be Cadfarch in Montgomeryshire, with £963.09, Painscastle in Radnorshire, with £962.06, and Honddu Isaf in Brecknockshire, paying £957.86.
The amounts have been calculated by combining the county council’s average Band D bill of £800.18 - a rise of 3.95 per cent on the current financial year - with the police precept of £157.68 for a Band D home, along with varying precepts for each community council.
The full county council will be asked to approve the budget at a meeting on Thursday.
A report to members stated the rise had been partly caused by a funding settlement from the Welsh Assembly that, at 3.5 per cent, was almost one per cent lower than the Welsh average of 4.4 per cent.
“The below average settlement in part is due to the increase in the authority’s council tax base, relative to the rest of Wales,” wrote the report’s author, head of finance Geoff Petty.
“It appears that Powys’ base has increased by 1.8 per cent against a Welsh average increase of one per cent and this means Powys receives less external finances as it is deemed to have the capacity to raise relatively more income through council tax.”
Social services would benefit from extra investment with an increase of £2.4 million in 2007 to 2008 to make a total of £50,522,000, as would education with a budget rise to £90,309,000, an increase of 2.94 per cent.
The amount spent on each pupil would rise from £2,955 in primary and £3,455 in secondary, to £3,030 and £3,540 respectively. But the council will also be required to make an efficiency saving of one per cent, and the Montgomeryshire Independent Group has proposed that a list of budgets be examined before August 31.
No front-line services would be affected by changes. Councillor Barry Thomas. “We want to make the council as efficient as possible without cutting front-line services.”
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