WREXHAM Council could bring some services to a halt as it faces a budget black hole of almost £10 million over a two year period.

A new report has shown that the local authority could move to stop non-compulsory services as it looks to meet the gap between 2020 and 2022.

The possibility of increasing council tax levels has also been mooted because of the bleak financial outlook.

In a report outlining the timescales for coming up with cuts and money raising measures, council leader Mark Pritchard said the funding policies of both the UK and Welsh governments were impacting on councils in Wales.

Cllr Pritchard (Ind) said: “The council’s Medium Term Financial Plan contains the most up-to-date assumptions about the level of government funding, inflation, commitments and tax levels.

“It highlights the scale of the financial challenge with a projected shortfall of approximately £9.8m over the two years from 2020/21 to 2021/22.

“The budget process must consider stopping discretionary and other services, efficiencies, raising income and fees together with tax levels.

“Realistically, unless the UK Chancellor’s Spring Statement or the UK Government Spending Review announces increases in resources then the council needs to plan early for cuts and savings at this level, or, considers the possibility of raising income.

“The other major factor in the financial resilience of local authorities, is the proportion of Welsh Government resource allocated to council and fire Services compared to the proportion provided to health.”

Residents in Wrexham have already faced an extra £60 a year being recently added to their council tax bills,

The 5.5 per cent increase has seen the average annual bill go up to £1,150 as of this month.

The council’s budget for the current financial year also included cuts worth almost £6m.

However, Cllr Pritchard insisted that members of the ruling independent and Tory led administration had attempted to keep tax rates as low as possible.

He added: “Wrexham’s council tax level is lower than the Welsh average and much lower than most English councils.

“This is something that will need to be factored into the budget once all cuts have been considered.”

Executive board members will be asked to approve the timescales for deciding on cuts and council tax levels at a meeting next Tuesday. (DEL 9 APRIL 2019).

A series of cross-party workshops are set to be held between now and July to discuss the approach to making savings before a public consultation is held in November.

The proposed cuts will be considered by executive board members in January 2020 with the final budget and council tax due to be set the following month.