Town Council Blame Businesses For Increase In Budget

THAME Town Council is blaming local businesses for an increase in their budget, which could mean an increase of 3.18% on the community charge next year.
The accusation came last night (08/01) as councillors discussed the amount of its Precept (the money it is given from funds collected through the Community Charge to run its services in the town) that it would be asking the district council for, for the next financial year.
The council is claiming that Thame and District Chamber of Commerce (now Thame First), said that local businesses had agreed to pay towards the running costs of CCTV in the town centre, and now the council are accusing them of failing to come up with the money.

In a statement published on its website today the town council says: “Thame Town Council is working very hard to keep down local residents? contribution towards the cost of services in the town.
“There would not have been any increase in the Town Council?s share of the Council Tax for 2008-2009 if the cost of running the CCTV cameras in the town centre had been paid for by local businesses, as had been agreed with the Chamber of Commerce. Efforts are being made to recover some of the