1.1 per cent town council tax rise on the cards for Stone residents
Stone residents are set to pay around 55p extra to the town council next year – but community leaders have said they provide value for money.
The Stone Town Council precept will go up by 1.1 per cent in April after members approved the 2020/21 – 2022/23 budget at their Tuesday meeting.
Projects to be funded in the coming year include the refurbishment of the war memorial – for which £5,000 has been set aside – and a further £3,000 has been earmarked towards improving the Christmas lights in the Walton shops area.
The funding pot for grants, which are offered to community groups that apply for funding, will be cut from £10,000 to £8,000 however after cash previously set aside for the scheme remained unspent.
Councillor Rob Kenney said: “Over the last two to three years we have nowhere near allocated that amount of money in grants.
“The building maintenance is supposed to be a rollover – we haven’t spent this year’s (funding) or much of last year’s. I propose we reduce the rollover to £9,000 – the other £10,000 will go into reserves to build the reserves up.
“The increase (in precept) is 55p – you can’t even buy anything in the pound shop for that. The proposals we are putting forward will still be delivering the heritage centre and financing that. It’s certainly value for money to the people of Stone.”
Councillor Jim Davies said: “55p is for a Band D property – for the people in Band A it will be significantly less than that.
“I think the people of Stone are getting good value for money from us and there is not a penny in expenses for councillors.”
Councillor Ian Fordham added: “It means we can continue to work on improving the town centre and we’re delivering improvements to the environment. I think that’s excellent and it has my full support.”
The Stone Town Council precept rise is less than that faced by Cheadle residents. On Monday Cheadle Town Council approved a 6.3 per cent tax rise – equivalent to £3.92p for the year for a Band D household.
The portion of tax Stone residents pay towards Stafford Borough Council services is set to go up by 1.9 per cent in 2020/21. Staffordshire County Council is proposing a 3.95 per cent tax rise.
