Here's the latest Argus column by Torfaen County Borough Council leader Cllr Anthony Hunt:

I RECOGNISE it can be frustrating - the pay cheque never seems to keep pace with the bills coming in.

Councillors of all parties know we need to do our best to keep council tax bills down.

However, we also have to be honest with people - we have to balance that against our responsibility to provide the services that people rely on – like schools, social care for the vulnerable, libraries, community facilities, roads, refuse, play services and more.

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So inevitably there is a compromise to be made, especially over the past decade, when a shortfall has been left thanks to austerity.

Austerity has shown that the current system of funding public services is not fit for purpose.

A major review of our whole taxation system in the UK, including council tax, is long overdue.

As councils get most of our money from Government grants and not council tax, when the UK Government withdraws funding, the wrong people end up footing the bill – a bill for vital public services that should be paid by those individuals and multinational companies with the deepest pockets.

But councils have to work with the system we have, fill the gaps left by decisions above our heads, and make the best of it. Council tax may be imperfect, but it is the only tool we have.

Councils must strive every year to be more innovative and efficient, but after 10 relentless years of cuts and efficiency savings, that alone won’t fill the gap. If simple solutions existed, they would have been done already and copied everywhere.

Councils deal with complex, sensitive services - matters of life and death – and can’t just withdraw from providing services as many are either statutory, much valued or wouldn’t be provided by anyone else.

Services badly need fair funding. Take education, for example. The challenge we face to improve performance in secondary schools wouldn’t be achieved without prioritising funding for education.

We’ve done everything we can to keep the rise as low as possible this year, coming in at two per cent below the rise the previous year. But those politicians who say you can freeze council tax and properly fund services are presenting a false choice. Councils elsewhere who’ve tried that path have eventually faced the reality of collapsing services, followed by even bigger tax rises to plug the gap.

In Torfaen this year, our balanced approach has enabled us to devote £3.4 million extra money for our schools, and properly fund children’s services, to help our most vulnerable young people.

We’ve funded support for small businesses and invested in a school leaver scheme to get young people working in local government.

By pursuing one per cent efficiencies from departments, we’ve made savings whilst avoiding major cuts or closures to key services.

For too long, council services have been the victims of a politics at a UK level which doesn’t value them. I’m glad that the Welsh Government have chosen to break that cycle of cuts and austerity this year, by prioritising local services and giving councils a positive settlement for the first time in a decade.

One year won’t make up for a decade of austerity, but if it’s the start of re-investment in local services, together we can rebuild services and keep council tax bills lower at the same time. And then everyone wins.

l You can contact me via Anthony.hunt@torfaen.gov.uk