MELKSHAM Town Council has agreed the budget for 2023/24 and will not be increasing their precept, to support residents during the cost-of-living crisis.
The precept is the amount of Council Tax which is paid by households to local councils, to deliver the services they are responsible for. At the full town council meeting on Monday 30th January, councillors discussed a draft budget and after a lengthy discussion, set the budget at £999,784.
Councillor Phil Alford said, “We have got residents who are desperately in need now. They need help now. We have £1.4million tucked away in reserves and we are allowing our residents to struggle with heating, bills and school uniform. I think we can get to a position where we don’t have an increase [in the precept] we have to put our residents first. We need to put their welfare and their best interests first now and that means giving them back as much money as we possibly can, by not increasing the Council Tax.
“We need to put our residents’ welfare and best interests first. That’s where our real responsibility is.”
Mayor of Melksham, cllr Simon Crundell said, “[In a time of a cost-of-living crisis], knowing your council is on your side and will fight tooth and nail to keep the precept down is so important. Unlike some parish councils, we could double the precept if we wanted, but we would shatter and eliminate that bond of trust between our council and the people we are here to serve.”
Cllr Jon Hubbard said, “I think we should be delivering a frozen precept because for the last year they have been getting nothing out of us, so we shouldn’t be getting anything out of them. People are struggling and the message from the council is that we have to tighten our belt to freeze the precept and this is a very positive message and the message is worth more than the value. This is a message that the council understands the pressures our residents are under. Let’s tighten our belts, let’s not overset our objectives for the year, let’s go out and do it, and let’s not charge our residents for it.”
In the budget, the council has agreed the deficit will be found from the following sources; General Reserve, £70,000; Precept Support Fund, £20,000; Solar Farm, £10,000 (set aside for the Sandridge Road/Maple Close highway project in conjunction with Wiltshire Council Highways); General Reserve balance, £31,306.
The budget was approved with a unanimous vote.
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