HOUSEHOLDERS in Wrexham are set to face an increase in their council tax of nearly seven per cent as the local authority looks to inject more money into roads and education.

It means the basic amount paid by people living in an average band D property will jump up to £1,233 from April – a rise of about £80 compared to the current financial year.

The 6.95 per cent hike is the largest witnessed in the county for many years and comes at a time when Wrexham Council has received a 3.5 per cent uplift in funding from the Welsh Government.

However, senior councillors said tax levels in the area were among the lowest in Wales and the extra income would allow them to invest in frontline services.

Council leader Mark Pritchard, who is in charge of the ruling independent/Conservative coalition, said it was needed to offset the impact of government cuts over the last decade.

He said: “It’s been a difficult decision for us all to come to this agreement, but we have to continue to invest in services in Wrexham so we meet the demands and standards that residents expect of us.

“We’ve had a difficult ten years plus on settlements and we have had a little bit more.

“I welcome extra money obviously and I hope there’s an increase in the proposed funding from the Welsh Government before February 23rd then on March 11th there’s going to be a budget announcement from Westminster.

“The bluntness of it is we’ve had massive reductions in our funding so what we have to do is fund some of these services from the council tax.

“If we had more money from the Welsh Government we’d be in a better place and our council tax would probably be set lower.”

The council has made cuts of more than £62m since 2008 and predicted it would need to save anywhere between £5.4m and £7.2m for 2020/21.

Although it has now been able to reduce that amount, Cllr Pritchard said the increase to its settlement from Cardiff was the third lowest in the country.

An additional £500,000 has been included in Wrexham’s latest budget to deliver improvements in education following a damning report on the county’s secondary schools.

Meanwhile, £1m will go towards bolstering the environment department’s allocation, including money to fix potholes.

The council’s deputy leader David A Bithell, whose portfolio covers environment and transport, said: “Nobody likes to raise council tax levels but given the pressures the council has currently got across all service areas we believe it’s the right thing to do.

“I think this is the first opportunity that we’ve got to try and invest in some key areas which we feel the public most want us to invest in like education and children’s services.

“We understand that people are concerned about infrastructure.

“We’ve had really long periods of wet mixed with frost which isn’t a good combination for our roads.

“We recognise that as an administration and subject to political support, there’s an extra £1m going into the budget to hopefully address some of the concerns of our residents.”

The council’s total budget for the next financial year will amount to more than £250m of which almost £66m would be raised through council tax.

The proposals will be discussed by executive board members on Tuesday before going to a full council meeting for final approval in February.