Budget increase means Thame must pay more

THAME and Moreton residents are be asked to pay more in their next Council Tax bills, towards the services provided by Thame Town Council.

This increase in the ‘precept’ (the portion of the Council Tax that goes to Thame Town Council) will amount to an increase of £12.34p per annum for the average Band D household, which amounts to 24p per week. The council has said that it has looked hard at where it can make savings, both in terms of cuts and further efficiencies, while at the same time: “providing the projects, functions and services that the community of Thame expect to be delivered.”

At last night’s council meeting to agree the budget for 2016-17,  Cllr Mike Dyer said: “The increase in the precept is 80% a result of what is being done to us, not what we are doing! The increase is totally defencible; there is no alternative.”

Cllr David Bretherton added: “If we didn’t put the precept up, we would have to reduce services.”

Cllr Nigel Champken Woods said that the town council had absorbed increases before, only to find itself having to ‘wack up’ the charge a couple of years later. “It’s better to go through the pain now,” he said, “than to be ‘bitten in the rear end’ in a couple of year’s time.”

The full statement, explaining where the money goes and why the increase is thought necessary, can be found on Thame Town Council’s website: http://www.thametowncouncil.gov.uk/