That Precept rise

How the Town Council finances itself and the services it provides has been a steep learning curve for me in a first year as a Councillor. What is most important is that it is fair and that the Town Council is accountable to local residents.

Local finance
The precept is an amount raised locally within the Whitchurch Parish and I learned that for several years it has remained static, even falling one year. It helps pay towards services such as street lighting, footpaths, play areas, some local grants, and the administration of allotments and the cemetery.

Uncomfortable
When next year's 2015/16 draft budget was presented I found myself learning something which caused me to feel quite uncomfortable. For several years the Town Council has been regularly using its reserves. I had not been prepared for the results of this. Contingency funds are necessary, being required for unforeseen or emergency needs – costs to the Town Hall following HSBCs unpopular decision to leave the town being one example; last year's flooding being another.

It was obvious that unless this drain on the accounts was addressed the Council could find itself with very severe problems as it would have lost its back up. The situation has also been made worse as local services by Basingstoke & Deane Borough and Hampshire County Councils are being drastically cut, placing even more pressure on the Town Council.

Need to be pro-active
At the first budget meeting I initially abstained but made the request that I could only support an increase if the Town Council looked into raising funds through initiating a more pro-active strategy on raising income. Perhaps it could be more commercial in its outlook and investigate alternative ways of funding its activities - weddings in the Town Hall anyone?

Rise necessary
It became clear that for this year, in order to just stand still, a rise is necessary, which has been agreed. This works out at an increase of £13.29 a year for a Band D property, or just over 25 pence a week. In pure percentage terms there is no doubt it looks bad – up 32% – and of course the press has inevitably picked that up as a headline figure. However, for just four pints of beer a year, the reserves are not being further depleted, and on the plus side this is the first increase for a number of years.

The previous administrations had good reasons for using the contingency funds and I respect the decisions they made, but I hope a different approach and especially with the support of the local community and businesses, any possible future increases can be less of an impact.

I still feel slightly uncomfortable, but a one-off rise of £13.29 should put the Council on a good footing for the future.

All my personal opinion of course. PLEASE let me know if you disagree.

Now let's see how much Basingstoke and Hampshire want from us.