Parish Council announces Precept

Council tax increases

The parish council is funded in large part through your Council Tax payments. This payment to the council is known as the parish precept. The portion of your Council Tax that goes to the parish council is relatively small. Both the County Council and Torridge District Council make up a larger contribution to your Council Tax. Other bodies, such as the police and drainage boards, are also funded through Council Tax.

Your Council Tax bill, when it arrives, will have a breakdown of how much each body is asking for.

County and District Councils are capped in how much they can raise their precept without asking the electorate, but parish councils have no such limit.

At its January meeting, Halwill Parish Council resolved to raise the precept from £21,890 to £33,850. This is an increase of 164.64%. This will result in the portion of your Council Tax payable to the parish council rising by 49.93%.

The reason Council Tax will not increase by the same percentage as the precept is that there are more houses in the parish, so the burden is spread between more people.

In addition to the operating costs of the parish council and a small amount for contingencies and capital items, it was resolved to demand £10,000 from council tax payers to help fund improvements to the playing fields and replace the old changing rooms.