I WAS horrified on returning from a short absence abroad to find from reading your story 'Town's tax rise will hit borough' (January 27) that our new masters at the council still haven't managed to explain the full impact of Tavistock town council's quadrupled precept.
Col Howard is quoted as saying that if, having raised this huge sum partly to cover their legal expenses, the town council gets some of it back 'Councillors will decide . . . whether to bring things forward early . . or they could squirrel it away.'
I cannot believe that any responsible officer or members of the town council could even hint at the idea that once they've got the money they might as well stick to it, if they realised that the government's trap is cumulative, and the massive fine on the extra money will be paid again year after year for as long as the system lasts — to be exact, until the cumulative increase allowed by the government catches up with the cumulative overspend — not in my lifetime I think, even if parishes and town councils show markedly more restraint in future!
It is absolutely vital that the town council restrict their 'take' to the absolute minimum to meet the needs of recent follies, and that they use any chance to repay every penny they can, by reducing future precepts.
I can see absolutely no justification for their making the rest of us pay a penny more than can be avoided this year, and deliberately to make us go on paying for years ahead would be outrageous.
Nicholas Waterhouse
West Devon Borough Council chair of policy and resources 1998/99 (Council Tax increase 2.75 per cent)