Congleton Town Council has approved the budget for 2022/23, which will see the Town Council’s share of the community tax rise by £1.88 (2.07%) per year for a Band D property – or 3.6p per week.
Councillors voted to support the budget, which had an emphasis on keeping the increase as low as possible for the town’s residents, whilst still supporting events and improvements for 2022/23 highlighted in the Town Council’s business plan.
The Chair of the Finance and Policy Committee, Cllr Robert Douglas, who recommended the budget said: “This has not been an easy budget. We have needed to account for £14,000 additional costs for running the paddling pool, make provision for up to 3% salary increase to allow for a national settlement, budget for an additional £5,300 for the employment tax, anticipate significantly higher energy bills whilst also creating budget for our 750 celebrations, green events and improvements to the Town Hall. This at a time when we are still unable to accurately predict income via the Town Hall due to uncertainty around COVID-19 and large bookings.
“I believe we have kept to our promise made at the Annual Town meeting that, through careful and detailed budgeting and with our Council ensuring that sufficient reserves are set aside, residents would only face modest increases. I am pleased that for the second year running we have kept to a modest increase of around 2%.
Congleton Town Council will write to Cheshire East and request a precept increase of 2.07% on the Town Council’s share of the annual community tax bill for residents in Congleton. For Band D properties this will see a rise from £91.09 per year to £92.97 per year.
Full details of the budget for 2022/23 can be seen with the Council papers of 9th December 2021 on the Town Council’s website.
