Cheshire East’s pest control service could soon charge Nantwich residents four times as much for dealing with rats and mice.
The current in-house service, which tackles pests including rats, mice, wasps, ants and fleas, makes a loss.
Now its £60,000 subsidy is being removed as part of planned savings in Cheshire East’s 2015/16 budget.
Cllr Les Gilbert, cabinet member for communities, is reviewing three options, including leaving the service unchanged or scrapping it altogether.
But a third and most likely option is to reduce the service and only deal with rats and mice in domestic properties – with an increased call out from £10 to £40.
This cost would be reduced to £20 for those on benefits.
And under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, the council could use enforcement powers to make property owners take action on other pests like wasps and ants.
In recent years, Cheshire East says there has been a steady decline in the number of call-outs, partly because of an increase in private sector pest control services.
A reduced council-run service would also mean the loss of two of the five team members through redundancy.
Cllr Gilbert said: “We take our duties on pest control very seriously and will continue to do so.
“However, we also have to consider whether we can justify the cost of our existing in-house service for the treatment of some pests when this service is offered by the private sector.
“If we opt to reduce the service, we will remain committed to tackling rodent infestation through providing treatments and exercising our enforcement powers.”
A decision is likely to be made on the service in the next few weeks.
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