A review of Brightlingsea Town Council’s finances could mean that the town’s council tax payers will have to pay more from April next year.
Town mayor Ric Morgan said that a close examination of the council’s finances showed that some spending over the last two years had come from its reserves instead of its current account.
“It’s not a crisis,” said Cllr Morgan, who gave a statement on the situation at the last full council meeting. “But we do need to address this.”
As part of the review, the council says it is “implementing cost-saving measures and pinpointing service improvement areas”. However, the mayor stressed that council services are continuing as normal. All expenditure now has to be approved by the finance committee.
According to the mayor, Brightlingsea’s precept – the town council’s share of council tax – currently raises around £195,000, which barely covers the authority’s wage bill. Rents and other items make up the remainder of the council’s income.
A Band D household pays around £65 towards town council services. “It’s quite likely that we’re going to have to put our precept up,” said Cllr Morgan.
A review of Brightlingsea Town Council’s finances could mean that the town’s council tax payers will have to pay more from April next year
Ric Morgan, Mayor
A decision on the precept for 2024/25 will be made later this month.
• In another move that could see a council tax increase – this time for Essex as a whole – the county’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) for Essex is looking for extra investment to help cut crime and reduce fires.
Roger Hirst has launched the PFCC Precept survey to gather residents’ views on what increases might be reasonable – and what the extra money could be spent on – to help the body set funding for 2024/25.
The commissioner says that an inflation-matching rise of 6.7% in the money Essex Police takes from council tax would add £15.64p a year, or roughly 30p a week, to a Band D property’s bill.
A similar increase for Essex Fire and Rescue Service would add £5.38p a year or around 11p a week.
Mr Hirst said: “We want to do more, we don’t want to stand still. We want to bring crime down further, reduce the number of fires in Essex and bring down the number of people killed on county roads. I need to know your appetite for investing more in our emergency services to achieve these aims.”
The online survey is open until Tuesday 21st November and can be found at https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/MVKC3H/.
Results will be analysed to help inform discussions at the Police, Fire and Crime Panel pre-budget meeting on Thursday, 7th December 2023.
