Here's the latest Argus column by Newport City Council leader Cllr Debbie Wilcox:

LAST week, we agreed the budget for the services that we will be providing to Newport residents in 2019/20.

As you will be all too aware, councils across the country have been dealing with the impact of austerity for several years and the financial climate is not really improving.

Newport City Council provides hundreds of services. Some of these, such as refuse collections, will be used by everyone and so are very visible.

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There are other services we are legally obliged to deliver that are only used by a minority of residents, such as our children’s respite home, but are a lifeline for individuals and families in difficult circumstances.

We also provide services which are discretionary but make Newport a more attractive place to live and work.

This includes financial assistance for small, independent business trying to get established in the city and support for other regeneration projects.

It is with a heavy heart that we take decisions to reduce or end any services but this is something we have had to do in recent times.

We have made efficiencies wherever possible and the council workforce has shrunk considerably.

We are legally obliged to produce a balanced budget and that inevitably has to mean an increase in the tax that residents pay towards those services.

Those paying council tax will use some of our services but maybe not all of them.

However, like income tax, we are all contributing towards services that we do not use but are a vital lifeline for others, such as support for people with learning disabilities.

For example, we all hope that we, or members of our families, will never need the support of social services when we get older but many of us will need care and will look to the local council for help.

No-one would argue that people are paying more council tax and we are providing fewer services that we traditionally did when funds were flowing more freely.

But the reality is that council funding from the government has not increased in line with the changing demographics and growing demand and council tax only contributes around a quarter of our total budget.

We have decided to keep this year’s council tax rise as low as possible and residents in Newport will be receiving some of the lowest bills in Wales and the UK.