OKEHAMPTON town councillors look set to adopt a budget for the coming year which will result in a 1% reduction in council tax demands. The council?s committees met last week and agreed a proposal to levy a precept for 2005/06 of £158,339, which is expected to be formally adopted at a meeting of the full council on Tuesday, January 4. The proposed precept would equate to £71.80 for an equivalent band D property, as opposed to a charge of £73.76 this year. This is the second successive year the council has been able to reduce its council tax demand. But next year?s reduction is small in comparison with the dip from a precept of £168,962 in 2003/04 to £160,000 this year. Town clerk Don Bent said he believed the budget agreed by councillors offered ?a slight reduction in the precept while preserving a sensible and healthy balance?. He said vital maintenance work on the council?s civic buildings, which are managed by the properties committee, was one of the council?s key financial priorities. The precept levied by parish councils forms only a small part of the overall council tax bill which incorporates demands from the local borough council, county council and police authority for the services they provide.
