This article was published on January 30, 2013 and information contained within may now be out of date.
Council tax payers in Spilsby will pay one per cent more next year towards the town council.
Councillors met on Thursday to determine the precept level for the next financial year but some tough decisions may have to be made in future budgets.
Changes by the Government mean that East Lindsey District Council now issues a Council Tax Support Grant to town and parish councils with the remaining figure coming from the precept which is money received through council tax.
Some councils have had to increase this figure to meet a shortfall.
East Lindsey District Council has allocated that Spilsby will receive a support grant of £7,740.
Spilsby Town Council’s gross precept is £44,521 so they will receive £36,772 through council tax.
This represents a one per cent increase and will mean a Band D property will pay £45.74 towards the town council through council tax, which equates to 0.88 pence a week.
The majority of houses in Spilsby are bands B and C so they will pay even less.
But the council was unable to set its budget as the council heard they may have to make cut backs as it is envisaged that the support grant may not be available in future years.
The meeting heard that the precept does not cover the budget of the council which has had to use money held in reserves.
Councillor Philip Odling questioned the £1,000 proposed for nine new barrier flower boxes.
He said: “Don’t get me wrong, I think they are fantastic and wish we could have more of them but looking at the budget, is this something which is absolutely necessary?
“I am really worried about what is going to happen in the future and the reserves we have got. I look at this budget and I can’t see where we can prune a lot from but it does have to be pruned drastically.”
Councillor Winston Baugh questioned the annual civic service, stating: “All it fetches in is Mayors.”
But Spilsby Mayor Michael Lenton was quick to point out that 63 organisations in Spilsby were represented at the last civic service.
He said: “The civic service is the town council’s way of thanking those organisations for all the hard work they do 365 days a year for nothing.”
The budget was deferred to a meeting at the end of this financial year.