Budget cut to stop Bridgnorth council tax rising

Bridgnorth Town Council agreed to cut £27,715 from its council tax precept rather than raise taxes by 5.5 per cent.

A petition signed by more than 200 residents had been handed to the council before an extraordinary meeting demanding no further tax increases for the town, which also faced a five per cent increase last year.

Town councillor Ron Whittle, speaking during the meeting on Tuesday, said he believed it was the council's duty to move forward with a zero per cent budget.

He said the budget was not set in stone and if any savings could found through a new working party, which had been set up to reduce the council's expenditure, finances could reassessed.

"We should be setting a precept that will not be increasing the load on our residents," he said.

"We still spend a lot of our reserves and in the next 12 months the earmarked reserves could be dangerously low."

Councillors agreed to increase cemetery fees by 10 per cent, creating an extra £4,000, while the council's grant-making budget was reduced from £12,000 to £5,000.

The council's events bill will be reduced by £1,000 and £2,000 was taken from the council training budget.

Work on the quayside came down by £1,500 and £4,000 for the town's floral arrangement will now come out of reserves.

The council has a £27,715 hole in its budget following Shropshire Council's decision to cut the council tax support grant.

Bridgnorth had been left with a £17,000 surplus for the 2014/15 financial year before Shropshire Council decided to withdraw its £44,857 support grant.

The council's finance committee had called on the town council to back a 5.5 per cent council tax increase to cover the deficit, which would have equated to an extra £6.35 a year for a band D property, bringing the annual bill to £122.23.

Councillor David Cooper, chairman of the finance committee, said he was still hopeful of getting the council tax support grant from Shropshire Council.

He said: "Shropshire Council has not formally made a decision to remove the £40,000 grant.

"If it does it would mean cutting services to residents or potentially putting council tax up, to make it easier for Shropshire Council to do its job, which I personally find dreadful."

A decision by the county council on whether to pass on more than £500,000 worth of grants to parish and town councils across the county is expected to be made by the end of February.