Update following our 21 January meeting

Having finally gained access to the bank account at the beginning of January, our clerk had been able to provide us with some financial information for our meeting on 6 January 2025.

However, Parish Councillors resolved to delay the decision and hold this further meeting on 21 January in order to:

• go through the Council’s balance, income and expenditure in more detail and make a fully informed decision.
• give more time for parishioners to read the financial information on our website.
• allow people to attend our informal drop-in session on Friday 17 January if they had any concerns or questions.

Below are the key things the Council discussed when setting the precept:

Best practice is for parish councils to hold a year’s precept in a general fund and reserves to cover the maintenance of assets, elections and other costs.

As a result of the resignation of the previous Parish Council and Clerk, this Parish Council has had to use much of the small reserves in the bank account to pay for the Mid Devon District Council’s £5,000 June election bill. A second similar bill is still a possibility, due to ten parishioners having requested an election for the current vacancy.

Additionally, essential maintenance work is required to Westleigh Playpark which is coming under the Parish Council’s control shortly. This could cost around £6,000. These two costs (an election and the playpark upkeep) alone add up to almost the entire precept of the previous year.

The Parish Council considered very carefully whether a contingency should be added for Parish Polls, which cost between £5,000-£8,000.  It reached the conclusion that common sense would prevail among electors and that this Parish Council would be as transparent as possible in its decision making and communication to avoid a poll being called.

Equally, now that the cost of elections is clear, there is a hope that future vacancies could be filled by the co-option process.

The Parish Council must also ensure that it has an adequate General Reserve Fund and will over the next three years look to build that fund up to 100% of the precept, together with Earmarked Reserves for the maintenance of assets.    

Having gone through all the known costs and potential costs for the year ahead together with the need to hold a General Reserve Fund, the Parish Council set the total precept at £34,325.

This means that a Band D household will go from paying around £3.01 per calendar month to around £8.46 per calendar month – an increase of around £5.45 per month. Lower band households will pay less, and higher band households will pay more.

Standard practice is for unspent monies at the year end to be added to the General Reserve Fund or to Earmarked Reserves such as elections, play park maintenance etc, which can result in a lower precept in the next financial year.

Your full Council Tax bill won’t be set until other services decide on their charges for the year, there is a cap on any increase at 5%. There is support available for people who can’t afford their Council Tax. Find out more on MDDC’s website https://www.middevon.gov.uk/residents/benefits/council-tax-reduction/.

What next?

Your Parish Councillors will now be working hard to ensure that the Council is on a sound financial footing.

Your Parish Councillors will now be working hard to save cost and bring in other funding, with a view to trying to reduce the precept next year.

We’ll review our contracts and make sure you get the best value for money. We’ll apply for grants and funding to help maintain public footpaths, enhance green spaces, help the community create an emergency plan, for example.

We will work with local authorities, businesses and volunteers to reduce costs, while still improving things for the community.

The budget information we discussed is available already, and the draft minutes from Tuesday’s meeting will be added soon.

Our next Parish Council meeting is at 7pm on Tuesday 18 February 2025 at Westleigh URC Hall.