COUNCIL tax for Middlewich residents will rise again this year, after the town council agreed on a precept rise at a meeting on Monday.

Councillors voted through a council tax precept rise from £398,259 in 2016/17 to £414,053 for the upcoming financial year.

This represents an increase of 2.16 per cent for band D properties, meaning residents are set to pay £86.95 for the precept compared to £85.11 last year and £66.86 the year before.

The increase comes after the council faced unexpected bills this year, including a flood in the Victoria Buildings, and prepares for higher staff costs as it falls in line with new national living wage requirements.

A fifth draft of the budget was put before councillors at the meeting, suggesting expenditure of £477,129 and requesting a precept of £424,053.

However, Labour councillor Mike Hunter successfully argued for £10,000 to be taken out of the council’s reserves to help reduce the precept and alleviate council tax, but saw efforts to take £20,000 rejected.

Jonathan Williams, Middlewich Town Council clerk, said: “The £10,000 is added onto the income [£53,076] to offset the increase in council tax for the people who will have to pay it. It means a reduction of just over £2 per band D taxpayer by adding in the £10,000 into the income.

“I think it’s a reasonable position. We had set our requirements on the basis of an insurance claim that hasn’t been resolved.

“Out of all the careful figures there is £12,000 that is not secured but we have to get our precept request in by the end of this week.

“It’s difficult to estimate from now to the end of the financial year but I think we have made a pretty good job of it in difficult circumstances – in particular with the flood we had last June and the massive amount of upheaval that caused.”

The council’s income before precept has dropped from just over £72,000 to around £53,000, but the estimated reserves on March 31 – the last day of the 2016/17 financial year – is £234,561.

Cllr Hunter said: “Considering how much we do have in reserves and that the guideline is to have 20 per cent of the budget in reserves, I still think we should be taking some out of the reserves and reducing the cost to the tax payer in the town.

“We have put the council tax up by twenty-something percent and the hit was that we didn’t get the grant from Cheshire East Council.

“This year we have a chance to take £20,000 out of the reserves and give a little bit back to residents and say thank you very much.”

Cllr Hunter’s proposal was seconded by Cllr David Latham, but other councillors noted that, with PCSO payment set to rise to £34,000 next year, any emergency such as building repairs would result in a huge rise next year.

The events figure has been cut from £18,550 to £12,800, including a FAB Festival drop from £7,500 to £5,000. Cheshire East Council has also withdrawn its £1,000 FAB grant.

On top of the £12,800, a further £7,500 has been allocated to the Roman Festival, plus £14,000 on Christmas tree lights – a drop of £1,000.

Middlewich Vision has also seen its funding more than halved, down to £4,500 from £9,800.