MIDDLEWICH Town Council members will meet tonight, January 9, to finalise the budget for 2017/18.

The council’s finance committee has been meeting for a number of months to set out a draft budget, setting out proposals for a final draft which will be put before full council for discussion and approval on Monday.

Members will also request from Cheshire East Council the precept required for the upcoming year.

Finance committee chairman Cllr Samantha Moss said: “This year has seen very disappointing news from the Police as in the past we have been afforded a large discount for the PCSO we have for the town.

“Now that has been removed and we would have to engage in an expensive three year contract, however for the past few months we have not had a PCSO at all, we of course still have police assistance when needed and dedicated police staff to manage the town.

“This year we also have been approached by Cheshire East Council to take over the ownership of the toilets located at Southway.

“This facility, regularly maintained by the town council, is actually owned by Cheshire East Council, however we have been given the opportunity to take this facility on rather than have it closed down and stand abandoned.

“We also have along with many other businesses had to join the pension scheme for our staff and ensure we meet the National Living Wage.

“As the head of finance for the town I wanted to let you know this, we have some tough decisions to make and at the same time not increase the precept we put forward to the borough council by a significant amount. This is something that we as a council are committed to do.”

The meeting takes place at the Wych Centre in Civic Way at 6.30pm.