Town Council’s precept goes down - but overall tax bills are still set to rise

Louth town councillors have voted unanimously to request a 14.5 per cent lower precept for the year ahead - meaning that local households will pay almost £9 less towards town council services in 2021/22.
Council tax billCouncil tax bill
Council tax bill

The town council agreed at their meeting last week to a precept request of £275,668 for the tax year ahead, which begins in April, meaning that an average ‘Band D’ property will pay £52.39 towards the town council’s budget - down from £61.32 over the last year.

Councillor Sue Locking congratulated all those involved in the calculations, especially the Town Clerk and her assistant, for enabling a reduction in the precept for the benefit of local residents.

However, residents will find that their overall Council Tax bill will be higher for the year ahead (2021/22), when contributions for the district council, the county council, and the police and crime commissioner are added in.

East Lindsey District Council has proposed a rise of almost 3.5 per cent, equating to a £4.95 annual increase for an average Band D property (rising from £146.79 to £151.74 across the 2021/22 tax year).

Meanwhile, Lincolnshire County Council, which receives the vast majority of your Council Tax payments, intends to increase its precept by 1.99 per cent, which equates to an increase of around £26 across the year for an average Band D property.

The final organisation to receive a share of your Council Tax is the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

For this current year (2020/21), the Commissioner’s precept figure increased by 4.1 per cent (£9.99 for an average Band D property over the year).

It was revealed on Tuesday afternoon - after the Leader went to press - that the Commissioner’s precept request for 2021/22 features a 5.9 per cent increase. This equates to an annual increase of just under £15 for an average Band D property.

Therefore, in total, the average Louth household can expect to see their Council Tax bills increase by around £37 over the impending tax year.

• Meanwhile, Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council is requesting a precept of £641,463 (an increase of £27,219), which is a 4.62 per cent rise. This will result in roughly an extra £7 being paid by an average Band D home in the Mablethorpe and Sutton on Sea area during the 2021/22 financial year.