MORE council tax was written off by Carmarthenshire County Council in 2017/18 than the year before, but the amount remains a tiny proportion of the overall figure collected.

Local authorities have no control over the majority of their funding, which comes from central Government via settlement grants and the sharing out of business rates.

But they set council tax rates every year, which bring in around a fifth of the money they need to run day-to-day services.

Council tax has been rising as authorities everywhere struggle to balance a growing demand for services like social care and static or dwindling central Government settlements.

Most authorities in Wales increased their council tax by 4% or 5% for the new financial year.

No authorities managed to collect every penny they’re owed.

Carmarthenshire County Council expected to raise around £82 million in council tax from residents in 2017/18, its total arrears as of March 31 this year were just over £6.9 million, and it wrote off just over £380,000 council tax debt.

The arrears have changed little over the past couple of years, as they wrote-off £79,000 in 2016/17.

The authority said it investigated 35 council tax fraud cases in 2017/18, of which 28 were single person discount cases, similar to the previous year.

Six councillors received one reminder to pay their council tax, five councillors received a second reminder, and one was sent a final notice for payment.

In response, the council’s executive board member for resources,  David Jenkins, said: “Council tax provides a vital contribution towards essential services, and the council takes all reasonable steps to recover payments due.

“Writing off arrears and debt is therefore always a last resort.

“However, we look at each case on merit and where it is clear efforts to recover the debt have been exhausted, or there are exceptional circumstances which make it inappropriate to continue recovery proceedings, we may decide to write off the debt.

“This does not apply where people are either wilfully refusing to pay or make fraudulent representations to claim discounts or exemptions.”

Council tax increased by 4.45%, or £50.99 for the average band D property. When combined with the precepts for the Dyfed Powys Police Commissioner and town and community councils, the average band D property is paying £1,500.35p for the year.