TAVISTOCK residents can expect a significant drop in their council tax next year after the town council ratified a decision to set the precept at £70,000 for the coming year.
Councillors at last week's meeting argued long and hard over the figure, after Cllr Betty Batchelor proposed the amount should be raised to £90,000.
The precept is a fraction of the normal amount of around £160,000 but is an attempt to balance out the huge figure last year, demanded to cover a costly court battle over repairs to council-owned properties.
Cllr Batchelor said the authority had 'nitpicked' over the years, cut back and neglected its parks and open spaces.
'We should set a budget for the things we want done,' she said.
Cllr Pat Warne said the council had to be 'realistic'.
'We could all try to court short-term popularity. The hurt has been done — this year we have to face reality, we have to be reasonable and ask for a reasonable level of income.'
Cllr Marjorie Corner said: 'There is a lot of work that needs to be progressed on our buildings, some of it urgently — £70,000 isn't enough.'
But Cllr John Wright said setting the precept was 'an issue of conscience'.
He said at last year's town meeting the people of Tavistock were told the precept for next year would be 'very much smaller or none at all'.
Cllr Roy Connolly said: 'I believe we put down a marker and raised expectations at last year's town meeting. Should we not give the town this rate, there will be a perception this council says one thing — and does another.'
And Cllr Roger Mathew said a £70,000 precept would mean the council had a 'perfectly adequate' reserve.
'I can't support an increased precept,' he said.
The proposal to raise the precept to £90,000 fell by one vote — a further amendment to raise it to £80,000 also failed by a similar margin.
It means the element of council tax demanded by the town for a Band D householder will be £18.10 next year.
Last year, the figure was £160.13, based on the enormously inflated one-off precept of £622,375.
Col Roger Howard, the town clerk, said the amount would rise over the next few years to a 'normal' operating figure of about £160,000 per annum.