The reasons behind the 71% increase in Parish Council tax

festivalhallpp

As many of you will have noticed the Alderley Edge Parish Council precept has increased by 71% this year from £70,000 to £120,000. The precept is the part of your council tax which is charged by the Parish Council.

No explanation has been provided for this significant increase, either on the Parish Council website or in the brochure which  accompanied the 2010/11 council tax bills. However, yesterday we received some financial information from the Clerk to the Parish Council which we requested under the Model Publication Scheme.

According to the figures on the attached document operational costs for the Festival Hall account for £70,000 out of the £120,000 precept. In addition there are legal costs of £4000 and other costs of £15,195 so the total cost to taxpayers for the Festival Hall is £89,195, which represents 74% of the total charge.

Income from the Festival Hall is predicted to be £29,350 for this financial year according to the budget. But it would appear, based on the minutes of the Finance Committee held on Monday 11th January 2010, that £15,000 of that £29,350 income can be attributed to a dowry from Cheshire East Council. I assume from the term dowry that this is a one off payment coming from Cheshire East Council, so in fact from taxpayers.

If you exclude this £15,000 dowry, the Festival Hall will be operating at a deficit of £74,845 this financial year which raises the question of whether the Parish Council can make the Festival Hall financially viable.

Included in the information we received was an "Open Letter composed by the Chairman in direct response to queries received regarding the increased precept." Which I presume means if people contact the Parish Council to ask questions about the significant increase they will receive this letter from Councillor P P Tomlinson.

In the letter Councillor Tomlinson says "I would draw your attention to the 500% increase in communications budget next year. We know we need to do more; we plan to issue some newsletters but still need more help. Postage to 2500+ homes even at second class would be a big dent in the budget, we need volunteers to hand deliver to save budget."

I find this quite ironic given I have often invited the Parish Council to communicate with local residents via alderleyedge.com. On several occasions I have written to them offering to publish their news, in their own words at no cost whatsoever = a free communication tool which whilst it doesn't reach 2500+ homes in Alderley Edge it does reach a very significant portion of the people they represent. I never even received an acknowledgement, let alone a response to these emails.

Below is the "Open Letter composed by the Chairman in direct response to queries received regarding the increased precept" and attached is the Alderley Edge Parish Council budget proposal for 2010/11.

Let us know your thoughts via the comment box below this letter.



PARISH COUNCIL PRECEPT

Having served on the Parish Council for almost four years now, I can assure you that every penny spent of our parishioners’ money is scrutinised for value and need before being committed. As elected representatives who give their time freely, your councillors act with diligence and I believe are more stringent with Parish funds than they are with their own or in any commercial venture.

I show below the 2010/11 budget compared to 2009/10 budget and predicted outturn below. - see attached document.

As can be seen last year we set a budget that could have eaten into our reserves, but have managed with hard decisions being made, to come out with a fairly neutral year.

This has been at the expense of neglecting some areas, for example we have had many criticisms regarding the cleanliness and décor within the main hall of the festival hall. We decided that, pending a PCT decision on moving the doctor’s surgery to the front part of the hall, this type of expenditure would be wrong.

With no decision from the PCT, we feel it would be negligent if we did not budget for some repairs and renewals in a building of the festival hall’s size and age. As you can see from the above figures the operational budget for the festival hall is the significant increase in the budget.

We have a part time clerk and part time lengthsman, the few hours they have are fully utilised, I personally would like them both to be full time or full time equivalents so we could offer a better service to parishioners. For example in the recent cold spell I would have liked to have been able to get the lengthsman to grit our high street footpaths and paths around our residential homes, many of whose residents were prisoners in their own homes. I would like the Parish office manned full time to take your calls, but all this takes money – an increased budget.

With a part time clerk you have the frustration of the answer phone when you ring for information, a website infrequently updated, your criticism regarding communications is valid but we do what we can with what we have. I would draw your attention to the 500% increase in communications budget next year. We know we need to do more; we plan to issue some newsletters but still need more help. Postage to 2500+ homes even at second class would be a big dent in the budget, we need volunteers to hand deliver to save budget.

We feel we have a unique village, a village that has spirit, a nice place to live. A lot of people in the country and around the world know of Alderley Edge. How many of them arrive to visit and say ‘is this it ? What’s all the fuss about ?’ We have many things we want to do to maintain (and improve) village spirit, sense of community and image. Budget is always the constraint.

This year we are replacing the green algae ridden boundary signs on all routes into the village with new signage. As we have no previous budget in this area the % increase can’t be measured, but I believe the £4,000 spent will have a measureable impact if only in civic pride.

We do many good things in the Parish; your goodwill may be currently melted, but I hope it rebuilds over time.

Yours sincerely,

Councillor P P Tomlinson
Chairman

Tags:
Council Tax, Festival Hall, Parish Council, Precept
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Vin Sumner
Friday 26th March 2010 at 1:53 pm
If the Festival Hall is operating at such a deficit, then it's way past time something was done with it, there are no doubt many options ranging from handing it over to a social enterprise or cooperative venture for maybe mixed social/commercial use to total redevelopment, but while there is indecision it costs money and loses opportunity.
Kriss Coombes
Friday 2nd April 2010 at 8:21 am
My thanks to Paul Tomlinson for using alderleyedge.com to communicate this interesting information.

I would be happy to volunteer my time to help distribute P.C. newsletters and perhaps other residents would like to join me?