ANOTHER meeting, another warning of the “grim” financial picture facing Pembrokeshire County Council with questions on “mass redundancies” and the prospect of a 28% council tax rise floated.

At audit committee on Thursday (October 18) Cllr Jacob Williams asked the cabinet member for finance if the authority had a plan for”mass redundancies.”

The council currently has its medium term financial plan at ‘red 16′ on its corporate risk register – the highest level possible.

“It’s looking to be so bad, are there plans in place as to how this will be tackled, if things get so bad is there a plan for mass redundancies? Is there a plan to get the council out of trouble?” asked Cllr Williams.

Cllr Bob Kilmister said her could not answer with “any clarity” as he awaited officers’ reports into service prioritisation which will be reported to members when the “full picture” is known.

“A lot of ideas are being formulated and some of those ideas, I think, will fly and some won’t.

“What I can say is the status quo is not an option. We are going to have to balance the budget, which we will do. Does that mean that there will be impacts on employment? Yes, there definitely will be.

“There’s no way in we can meet the budget requirement we have got without affecting the number of people we employ. Have we got a clear, costed plan at the moment for that? No,” said Cllr Kilmister.

He said it was under discussion and had been given high priority.

Director of finance Jon Haswell warned that on current predictions, based on figures from Welsh Government and what it thinks the council needs to provide services, council tax would need to rise 28 per cent.

“It is members that decide the budget, it’s going to be a very difficult process we go through. It’s going to be very, very difficult to achieve, it’s more difficult than last year,” Cllr Kilmister added.

The committee heard that the financial picture for all local authorities was “extraordinary” and were reminded that in Pembrokeshire 70 per cent of the budget went on social services and education with cuts having “serious implications.”

Cllr Kilmister added: “We might possibly be in a better position that some others but it’s still pretty grim and if austerity has ended I would love to see some evidence of it.”