MONMOUTH­SHIRE Council will have to find savings of at least £9m after its funding was slashed "far beyond expectations".

The council is warning that services could have their budgets reduced by as much as 19 per cent in a bid to balance the books.

A newsletter produced by the council setting out the situation is being sent to every household in the county and the council says it wants the community to let the authority know what services are most important.

A council spokeswoman said: "The council has recently been told by the Welsh Government that their funding will be drastically cut and while the authority expected some reduction in funding, the actual reduction is far beyond expectations."

The council's total budget is £160m but only £126m can by directly influenced. The £9m savings for the next financial year are part of a £23m package over the next four years.

The cuts to services will depend on the level of protection given to the budgets of schools and social services.

Council leader, Cllr Peter Fox said: "There are some big decisions that will need to be made over the coming months.

"Some of that will mean services change, stop or are run by other community groups.

"We need to help people understand the situation that we're all facing and this newsletter is the first step in informing and involving our residents.

"It's essential that we give everyone the opportunity to be involved.

"It's important that residents know that we haven't yet made any decisions about the services that will be affected.

"That is a conversation we need to have with residents. We will be running a series of community events so that residents can share their views and we'll publicise those soon.

"We're relying on our communities to tell us what matters to them and be involved."

More information, including how to get involved, is available online at http://www.mon">www.mon

mouthshire.gov.uk/

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