FACT CHECK- Raising The Precept

This week Town & Parish Councils are setting their  budgets for the next year. In Bridgwater we have set a rate for that element of the Council tax that goes to the Town Council to pay for services at 39.18%. Because Council tax is ‘redistributive’ (ie lower housing bands pay lower amounts than higher ones) the figures are different depending on which band you are in. Most of Bridgwater is in band A (8,924) then band B (4,712) then band C (2,667). However, when the Government and the Media reports the figures they take band D as the ‘average’. Of course that isn’t the case for Bridgwater. Here we have just  803 band D properties. The bandings go up to H (where we only have 7). These bandings are different in every Somerset town, all of which have vastly more band Ds and much less band A’s. In real terms the increase in Bridgwater is £1.48(A) £1.73 (B) £1.98 (C) and £2.23 (D) per week.

Q WHY HAVE YOU RAISED THE COUNCIL TAX?

Smedley: Council Tax is the money that local Government raises from everybody to pay for services. 87% of your council tax bill goes to Somerset Council. That has been the case for many years. Previously Sedgemoor District took 9-10% and Bridgwater Town Council 3%. That reflected the services delivered. In 2023 Sedgemoor was abolished and Somerset became a Unitary Council and took on all of Sedgemoor and the other Districts’ staff, assets and services. The creation of a new Unitary Council – where all services came under one council – was said by the Tories, who ran Somerset for many years, to be a way of making savings. In fact it was the opposite. When the LibDems took over in 2023 they found a near bankrupt county as the Tories had failed to raise adequate council taxes during their time in office. To try to balance their budget the Lib Dems made massive job cuts, service cuts and sold off assets and raised their council tax to the max 5%, but still had to declare a financial emergency. Town Councils such as Bridgwater, Taunton and Yeovil however could choose to step in to make a difference. They could take on those services, workers and assets, and then that part of the ‘precept’ would be raised by them. If they didn’t do this then jobs would be lost, services suspended and assets sold off. All the Town Councils chose to do this. But this means that now while Somerset still takes 87% of the Council tax precept, Bridgwater, for instance, takes 12%-because it delivers many of the services that Sedgemoor used to provide and that Somerset could no longer afford. This includes parks and open spaces, street cleaning, cctv etc.

Q IS BRIDGWATER NOW THE HIGHEST TAXED TOWN IN THE COUNTRY?

Smedley: No. However, ALL the Somerset towns that have gone through the Unitary shake up have had to make decisions to take on services or let them collapse. Therefore whilst other towns and parishes in other parts of the country are NOT going through Unitary changes,and so don’t have to make these extra charges,  ALL the Somerset towns are and so have all upped their part of the rescue package and taken on more responsibilities, therefore ALL the Somerset towns this year are now in the top 50 range. That goes in order of size Taunton, Bridgwater, Yeovil, Frome.

Q DID YOU REJECT ‘CONSULTATION’ ON YOUR BUDGET?

Smedley; No. We rejected a politically motivated motion by Tory leader Diogo Rodrigues. We felt it was a malicious motion designed for a headline. If it was passed it would be ‘Diogo forces Council to consult’ if it was rejected it would be ‘Council rejects Diogo’s motion to consult’. The truth is that we already have consultation. The public can attend each and every meeting and speak at them. All papers are published on the website. We have a special committee dedicated to Finance, chaired by Councillor Mick Lerry, which tracks, monitors and scrutinises the budget. Even Councillor Lerry is held to account by a supporting triad of councillors (in this case Cllrs Solomon and Leavy) and…actually, even Diogo is on that committee. What of course Diogo doesn’t mention is the content of my reply at the meeting where I said the following “This year is one of transition for us from a smaller parish council to a newer, larger council with more responsibilities and new budgets. This will require a year to settle in so that we fully understand how our budgets and systems work. However, we will take on board the content of the motion for consultation and in a longer run up to the budget set 2026 we will create a ‘Finance Forum’ where our partners (from Community groups, the unions, business etc) can engage in a proper consultation”. The other important thing to remember is that Diogo’s motion was designed to fail as the terms of the consultation were such that they couldn’t be met in the time scale. Obviously, it would make more sense if we set this up for next year. As we agreed to.

 Q WHAT ARE WE GETTING FOR OUR COUNCIL TAX MONEY?

Smedley: Different services are delivered by different councils. Somerset is in financial difficulties and shedding roles as they struggle to avoid bankruptcy.

And that’s 87% of your tax bill right there. Town has no say in that.

Bridgwater has massively more taxpayers  in the lowest bands A and B (that’s almost 14,000 people) and so will be asking for between £1.48 and £1.73 from the majority of Bridgwater people extra a week for Town Council services, which of course include keeping the 6 parks and gardens open, maintaining 25 play areas, keeping the streets clean and running the community buildings such as the Recreation Community Centre in Hamp, the Town Hall, the Museum, the Bridgwater Arts Centre plus next year we will be taking on the Rollercoaster Youth Centre down in Sydenham. We also pay grants to the towns community centres, to youth and community organisations, a large contribution to CCTV, gully clearing, emptying 233 litter bins and 80 dog bins, we maintain the cemetries, look after 1,800 trees, rights of ways, pavements, bedding planting, we run Bridgwater Fair and West Street market, we clear up after the Carnival. That’s worth £5.23 a week  by any reckoning. Because that’s what we’re asking from the majority of Bridgwater households. The job of a town council is to balance what is needed by the community with how to pay for that. Your council tax pays for those services. Look at what you spend on your own personal outgoings each week, food, electricity, rent and so on. Your Town Council services are part of your home and community budget and we’re saying that’ll come to about a fiver a week on Band A, £6 on band B £7 band C and £8 band D when the increase is applied.

Q MUST EVERYBODY PAY THIS?

Smedley:  No. Many people will get a lot of that reduced  through the council tax reduction scheme. It’s payable by household not by person and if you’re on a low income you could get council tax reduction.  For some the bill could be reduced by 100%, for others by 25%. Check this with Somerset Council. It will depend on your income bands. Council tax is NOT a flat rate tax like the Poll Tax was back in the bad old days. It’s redistributive. The better off pay more, the less well off pay less and some get reductions and some pay nothing. See here.

Q IS THIS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE THEN?

Smedley; Bridgwater is a growing town and our tax base has increased but crucially we don’t have the big money homes that other towns have. Whereas Bridgwater has just 803 band D dwellings, Taunton has 3,666, Yeovil 1,177 and even smaller Frome has 1,746. These towns are aically at an advantage. But if we want Bridgwater to keep up and have top rate services as we drive forward we have to pay for them.  Everywhere across the county Towns and Parishes are adapting to the new system with the districts gone and are in transition as they take on services, assets and workers.  Yes Bridgwater has taken on more powers and delivers more services, but that’s because we need more here and the people here would not forgive us if we let them dissapear as they are doing at County level.

Q WHY ARE THE TORIES SO ANGRY? HAVEN’T THEY HAD 14 YEARS TO FIX ALL THIS?

Smedley – The Conservatives are out of Government everywhere and are trying anything to get back into power. Any criticisms they make might make sense if they were directing that criticism at the former Conservative Government and former Conservative County Council but I suspect they aren’t.  The Tory government’s since 2010 have devastated services, reduced funding to local government and compelled them to add costs at local level which were unrealistic. The Conservatives are thankfully out of office both nationally and at county level and have the luxury of sitting on the side pointing at the mess they left and pretending it wasn’t them.  Try not to fall victim to their ‘online polls’ asking for your ‘opinions’ as if they have the slightest actual concern. they’re just trying to harvest your emails.

Q BUT THE TORIES SEEM VERY CONCERNED ABOUT ALL THIS? ARE YOU SAYING THEY’RE NOT?

Smedley  ; Seeing the Tories complain, for instance, about the ‘Celebration Mile’ is staggering. That was money given by the last Tory Government to the last Tory Sedgemoor Council who decided to spend it on a celebration mile. Actually nothing to do with Town Council. Now we see Tory MP Ashley Fox running a campaign against his own party’s decision to try to avoid association with it. When Sedgemoor was abolished it passed to the Lib Dems at County. They’ve sat on that Town Deal money. Now they’re finally trying to spend it they’re spending it all at once in case they lose it. Simply causing chaos. This isn’t money that can be spent on anything else other than what it was given for. The Tories are just being massively opportunist. When it comes to Council Tax the Tories in Government, in County and in District operated  a system of austerity which made all the cuts from top to bottom that of course brought the country to its knees. Low taxes caused cuts and the loss of services that places like Bridgwater depend on. The solutions across the board are to get the economy up and working again so that people have more money to spend, and then for people to pay the neccesary level of taxes to keep the neccesary level of public services that we need. It’s not rocket science. That’s what Trump will be relying on to get him and Elon Musk to Mars…..