Senior councillors will be asked to discuss with members any extra funding that may come from Welsh Government before making a decision on where to spend it.

Ceredigion County Council’s corporate resources overview and scrutiny committee was the last group to sign off the proposed budget and savings for the coming financial year at its meeting on February 19.

One recommendation was to allow any changes to the revenue support grant (RSG) that came before the final budget decisions are taken at March’s full council be to be “dealt with by an adjustment to the Leadership Group corporate revenue budget.”

Cllr Ceredig Davies, leader of the opposition, called for that to be withdrawn and replaced with a formal request that the cabinet and leader reconsider where money is allocated if received.

Cllr Rowland Rees-Evans was among those supporting this idea, adding “money could be allocated in a way we don’t agree with.”

Council leader Cllr Ellen ap Gwynn said, “if and when more money comes in we will look at it again,” but she warned “the timeline is very tight.”

The final funding announcements will be made by Welsh Government on March 3 and full council is due to set Ceredigion’s spending at a meeting on March 6.

Committee chairman Cllr Keith Evans added that there should be the opportunity to discuss matters again should more money be received.

Cllr Ifan Davies raised concerns about potential costs of more than £1million for the county farms service as new rules relating to slurry storage come in and was told that work was to be done to assess the potential impact of the new regulations.

Questions were also asked about an extra £300,000 for the council tax support scheme, which totals £500,000, with Cllr Gareth Davies asking if it would be enough as people faced more hardship due to the pandemic.

This was echoed by Cllr Lyndon Lloyd who said there were increasing numbers of older people struggling with lower pension credits.

They were told that best estimates were made by officers on information available.

The biggest pressure for the customer contact service is salary costs of £83,000 with a one per cent increase proposed for all staff, plus an extra £250 for those earlning under £24,000

It has to make £57,000 of savings with councillors approving the proposals to review ICT services and cash collection services in a bid to meet this target.

The democratic services department has a £31,000 savings target which is likely to be met through vacancy drag, £20,000 by removing posts and a reduction in milage claims due to increased remote meetings could save £4,000 on travel costs.

Plans for £15,000 of savings in the legal and governance service, £21,000 from people and organisation service, and £21,000 from policy, performance and public protection were also accepted by the committee.