SERIOUS money troubles lie ahead for cash-starved Monmouthshire Council with the authority facing yet more budget hardships, its leader has warned.

Councillor Peter Fox fears the austerity-hit council may have to find savings of a coffer-draining £7 million as the financial squeeze looms ever closer.

“Things are going to be really tough,” he predicted ahead of council discussions on the 2016/17 budget.

He revealed on Tuesday, “We are expecting a funding cut from Wales Government of more than four per cent which is £4.5 million in round terms.

“But we won’t know for sure until after Christmas, which is unhelpful. We anticipate the need to find close to £7 million worth of savings or efficiencies on top of everything we have found in previous years.

“The council already operates with the lowest funding base in Wales and also the lowest number of staff to population in Wales.”

He reckoned proposals in the pipeline might account for an estimated £5.5 million in plugging the expected gap.

Councillor Phil Murphy, the council’s Cabinet Member for resources, said the best the authority could hope for was a ‘cash standstill.’ There were no plans to target school funding.

“We will maintain our commitment to the living wage and make provision to ensure that providers in the social care setting are able to do likewise,” he said.

He added, “We are investing £0.5 million more into children’s social care to account for increases in the number of looked after children and the complexity of some individual’s needs.

“We want to keep all of our one-stop shops, libraries and leisure centres open as they are now but we will be asking town and community councils to help us with this by collectively contributing to the costs. If they can’t then we will have to review opening times.”

He announced the authority would begin a process of moving its outdoor education, youth services, museums and leisure centres ‘into some form of trust or employee-owned mutual.’

“We feel this is the best way of safeguarding those services. We will be looking to increase a range of fees and charges by up to 10 per cent - way above inflation but still well within the ranges that other councils charge for things,” he explained.

Council Tax would need to be increased on a par with last year and - sadly - the council would be reducing the financial support it provides to some third sector organisations.

“We will be transferring some of our buildings to community groups and selling others that we think we can do without,” he said.

And he added, “None of this is easy which is why we are putting it out now so we can engage with people. Don’t forget that we still have more money that we need to find.”

The grim news from County Hall went down like a lead balloon with Labour leader Dimitri Batrouni who complained, “This is a result of Westminster cuts to Wales of around £1.4 billion.”

He added, “There is always a choice on the council’s priorities - and this Tory council have chosen to prioritise and create more senior managers, have proposed to increase their pay and have spent millions on private consultants.

“I urge Monmouthshire’s council taxpayers to question the council on these matters.”