THE average council taxpayer in Okehampton will face a rise of 15%, or more than £10 a year extra on their tax demands for the coming year, following a budget rise voted for by councillors last week. And an even larger rise in the precept was only avoided when councillors agreed to dip into the Waitrose bonus — which is being awarded for the last time this year — to keep their part of the final bill down. The town council agreed a budget of £195,007 for 2007/08, which will mean a person living in a band D property, will pay £86.55 — a rise of 15% from last year's precept of £75.28. Cllr Charles Letchford, chair of the property committee, told the council: 'I am convinced we need to raise the precept.' In his view, this was necessary because the council needed to build up its reserves in the years ahead, when civic buildings would need painting again and other major maintenance costs were likely to arise. But Cllr Mark Slater opposed the proposed budget, arguing a 15% rise in the precept was 'too high' and the council had to try to learn to 'live within its means'. Cllr Tony Leech agreed: 'Every penny counts. People are finding it very difficult. A couple of extra pounds on top of all the other charges going up, could be enough to push someone into bankruptcy. 'This rise places a great burden on people. We need to build up our precept, I agree, but to hit it all at once I do not think is fair to the low paid of the town.' Following a hike in the precept four years ago, councillors have kept the increase at a low level over the last three years. They agreed to deduct £10,000 from the Waitrose bonus, awarded to the council under a profit-sharing arrangement with the store, and place this money in the council's general funds, allowing the precept rise to be kept lower than first feared. Cllr Slater proposed the council take a total of £15,000 from the Waitrose bonus to lower the precept further, but this was defeated. The figure was also kept down after councillors agreed to reduce some of its capital expenditure — the amount allocated for office equipment and tree work was reduced, and plans for an information board in Simmons Park were abandoned. A further £8,000 was saved by moving car park work out of the capital budget and making it a Waitrose budget priority. Town clerk Don Bent said this year the town council would make a substantial profit from the market hall, following its decision to convert the building and lease it to a cinema company. He said the amount the public would have to pay in its council tax would have been even higher if the council had continued to allow the hall to be used for unproductive markets. The precept levied by parish and town councils forms a fragment of the overall council tax demands issued in March which incorporate precepts levied by the borough council, county council and police authority.
