Following a meeting of the Finance Working Group on 2nd November, Full Council met on 20th November 2023 to consider the draft budget for 2024/25.
Historically the former St Buryan Parish Council resolved to increase the precept annually by the rate of inflation or less. Its successor Parish Council, St Buryan, Lamorna & Paul, had taken a similar approach. In fact, the overall precept for 2023/24 increased by £661 only and the Council Tax charge for each household in the parish reduced by 2.58% due to the additional houses in the parish.
However, over recent years the majority of parish councils have chosen to raise their Council Tax charge by larger incremental amounts in order to cover the increasing cost of services, mainly due to the high rate of inflation.
Given the precept is the main source of income for parish councils, this limits the amount of expenditure that can be committed and the level of general reserve that can be maintained.
The challenge for the Parish Council is that following a period of substantial investments and improvements (e.g., fingerposts, cycle stands, playground etc) the general reserve level has been depleted, thus limiting further investment in services.
The draft budget presented was one that sought to provide financial sustainability by raising the overall precept to £45,000, primarily to enable the continuation of the provision of a broad range of services across the parish and to restore a prudent general reserve.
The budget was approved at the November 2023 meeting and the corresponding precept request approved at the December 2023 meeting.
The impact of that proposal is that Band D property owners will be asked to pay an extra £2.66 per month towards the provision of services provided by the Parish Council.
Additional funds enable the Council to undertake activities such as, but not limited to, the refurbishment and continuing operation of the public toilets, funding under 16s swim at Jubilee Pool, cutting and maintenance of the Millennium Triangle and ensuring funds are in place to maintain the children’s playpark including replacing equipment as necessary
