BUDGET cuts will be high on the agenda for Caerphilly cabinet members next week as the authority prepares to increase service costs and raise its council tax.

A meeting of the council’s cabinet will take place on Wednesday where members will discuss whether or not to pursue with proposals, which include a council tax increase of 3.9 per cent for 2015/16 with a proposed saving of £658,000.

If cabinet members decide to vote in favour of the recommendations, then they will be discussed in final at a full council meeting later in February.

Other proposals include an increase of £1 on the meals on wheels service with savings of £88,000, and to go ahead with the closure of council offices in Pontllanfraith.

The potential closure of the Pontllanfraith council offices has been attacked by local councillors, including Nigel Dix, who represents the Blackwood ward. He has reiterated his intention to ensure jobs will be moved locally if the offices will indeed close.

Proposals also include the closure of the popular Bargoed ice rink from December 2015, to lower mileage rate for council staff from 50p to 45p, and to increase car parking charges typically by 10p per hour.

A report to be presented to members next week details a range of cuts to services that will need to take effect over the next 12 months or so.

On October 29 last year, cabinet received a report providing an updated Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) reflecting the provisional 2015/16 financial settlement announced by the Welsh Government earlier that month.

Members endorsed a proposed package of 2015/16 savings totalling £12.208 million, with that figure remaining largely the same ahead of the final budget settlement set to be agreed later next month (Feb).

The report, to be discussed by the Labour cabinet on Wednesday, also gives responses from public consultation meetings held over the past few months, including six drop-in sessions.

It said: “The general consensus from the people attending the drop in sessions was that the draft savings proposals were measured and achievable in light of the difficult financial restraints facing the council over the coming years.”

More feedback showed respondents to the various forms of consultation by the council were content with its intention to protect frontline services but opposed to the proposed increase in charges and fees across the board.