Whilst we’re all thinking of Christmas and the New Year, those responsible for setting the Town and Parish council precepts (the local part of the council tax that they set) on the Isle of Wight, are left scratching their heads.
Why? Well, the yet to be fully voted through cuts in public services by the Isle of Wight council have a great deal to do it.
Although the Cabinet voted through the proposals for massive public service cuts last week, the final sign-off won’t be happening by the full council until February next year.
Ideas that have been floated by the Cabinet include the town and parish councils taking over and paying for beach lifeguards, local parks & gardens and public toilets in their areas.
January end deadline
Despite this, the Isle of Wight council usually insist that all Town and Parish councils need to deliver their precept funding requests by the end of January (even though the legal requirement 1st March).
Update 15.31: Dave Burbage has confirmed this afternoon to Town and Parish councils that they now have until 11th February to submit their precept figures
Many Town and Parish councillors are left wondering how they are supposed to work out what their precept request should be, prior to know what will be included in the final sign-off of council cuts.
Cllr Jonathan Bacon raised the point at the last Cabinet meeting, expressing concern that there was too little time between information being provided and precepts needing to be set.
Will we see a huge rise in precepts?
Whilst County councils are subject to a cap of their council tax rises, Town and Parish councils could in theory set their precepts into the millions if they wish.
The concern by some local councils on the Isle of Wight is that as public services/amenities disappear (such as libraries and public toilets), they will be expected to pick up responsibility for them resulting in huge increases to their precepts.
If the precept goes up, your council tax goes up and VB understands that it could even happen twice next year.
Second precept payment possible
If after setting their precept, the Town and Parish councils find that they have a shortfall (due to not having enough information at the time of setting the precept), they do have the ability to ask for a second precept payment. This is something Island council tax payers should be prepared for.
We understand that Town and Parish councils are expecting information today from Cllr David Pugh on the extent of cuts to local services such as libraries and public toilets.
We’ll let you know when we have more information.
Image: thomasclaveirole under CC BY 2.0
