MORE than 100 people tuned in live for Pembrokeshire County Council's second Facebook Live video link for questions on this year’s budget.

Councillor Bob Kilmister, cabinet member for finance answered questions from members of the public on bin collections, road maintenance, Withybush Hospital, the Cleddau Bridge and more on Monday evening (January 7).

Cllr Kilmister said he sympathised with those he called the working poor, who felt the pain of the council tax rise more than any others.

“We have had austerity for eight years now. We are now cutting into services. This is a lose-lose situation for just about everyone involved in this,” he said.

“We are trying to maintain as many services as we can for as long as we can.”

One hot button issue was the pay of councillors and senior staff.

“When you have a look at the budget, if you take all the budget for all our senior staff and all the money that is spent on councillors it comes to £2million in terms of the whole process,” said Cllr Kilmister.

“If you did away with all these people – and I don’t think it would make it a better place without guidance – you are in a situation where you have saved nothing in a £200million budget.”

He added the council was looking at where it could trim members of staff.

But he said there were some workers the council was unable to cut back on, including bin men and carers working in the home, as well as teachers.

The Cleddau Bridge was also a hot topic, with some viewers asking if the toll on the bridge could be kept but reduced.

Cllr Kilmister said it was lunatic that a toll bridge was still operating in the middle of Pembrokeshire’s enterprise zone, cutting of either sides of the Haven.

One viewer asked what could be done to help the council to save money.

“The biggest thing people can do to help us is to sign up for something called MyAccount,” said Cllr Kilmister.

The cabinet member explained this computer system allowed the council to contact residents digitally, saving on printing and paper costs.

The next Facebook live will be on Wednesday, January 16 between 7pm and 8pm.