WESTBURY Town Council has agreed that from April there will be a 2.59% increase of the town’s precept, due to the increase of services being taken over by the town council from Wiltshire Council.
The precept is a tax collected from every home in the town to help fund Westbury Town Council’s activities. The increase is due to assets and services transferring from Wiltshire Council to town and parish councils across Wiltshire. As a result, there is an increase in running costs associated with these services and staff resources.
From April 2019, the precept will increase by 0.064p per week which amounts to £3.35 annually.
This makes the Band D tax per annum £132.93 instead of £129.58 from last year. Band D properties are used as a measure of the national average, and some houses will see a bigger or smaller increase.
It has increased at the rate of inflation only at 2.59% based on the inflation rate as at Sept 2018.
During the town council meeting on Monday 7th January, Cllr Mike Sutton said, “It’s my view that we should never, at the moment, go below the rate of inflation for the precept because, as you all know, the government are in meltdown financially, we have no idea what the future holds and I’m sure when Brexit is out the way, they will be looking at things and cap us eventually as they have threatened to do. The more funds we can accumulate now for the future, is more and more vital.
“The precept is still well below most other towns in West Wiltshire and the county in general.”
Mayor, Ian Cunningham, added, “Nobody likes paying more taxes. We are still anticipating the transfer of yet more services to the town council that are currently funded by Wiltshire Council but some of these seem to have been delayed a little.
“Items that are on the list could be quite expensive to a town like ours with a relatively modest precept – estimates have been up to a third. We have already put in place some financial planning to deal with this, so we have been able to offer a relatively modest increase this year, but we are keeping in mind the future.”
Information about council tax can be found here: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/benefits-council-tax All councillors were unanimous in the decision to pass the increased precept.
