There will be a 12.7% increase in the funding South Wales Fire Service gets from council tax payers in the area. As part of proposals approved by the South Wales Fire Authority on Monday, February 13, next year’s budget (2023/2024) is set to be £89.37m, a £10.07m rise from this year.
The service covers 10 areas including Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Torfaen and Vale of Glamorgan. The treasurer Chris Barton said that on a like for like basis it is an 8.2% increase but there have been reductions in grant from Welsh Government.
The fire authority approved a draft budget for 2023/2024 for consultation in December and also in December a draft Welsh Government budget announced that local government funding for next financial year will increase by an average of 7.9% and the report said this is subject to change particularly around the transfer of specific grants previously paid to the fire authority. For the current financial year (2022/2023), the fire authority set a budget of £79.3m in year when councils received an increase in their funding from Welsh Government of around 10% while the fire authority requested an additional 2.29% in resources.
