Buckingham Town Council has voted to increase the Council Tax raised by the Council on residents in 2020/21 by only 8.2p per household. At the Town Council meeting on Monday 13 January councillors voted to raise £903,990 through Council Tax in total. This equates to an increase of 8.2p per week for a band D property, a rise of £4.31 or 2.62% per property, in line with RPI. Some of the increase will be provided by an increase in the number of homes since last year. The Town Council also raises funding through charges, for example for use of rooms in the Lace Hill Community Centre, for burials and by charging the County Council for services provided on its behalf.
The new budget includes funding for an administrative apprentice and a Green Spaces apprentice, support for a VE Day commemoration event and design and the first repayments for the new cemetery and allotment site. The Council provides a wide range of services compared to those run by neighbouring councils, including:
- Public toilets in Cornwalls Meadow and Chandos Park
- Tourist Information Centre
- Shopmobility
- Lace Hill Sports and Community Centre
- Brackley Road Cemetery
- Bourton Park
- 5 play areas
- Annual programme of over 20 events including the fireworks display and Fringe Week
- Defending and refreshing the Buckingham Neighbourhood Plan
- Providing grants to local community groups
The council is continuing to invest in ways of lowering its impact on the environment through investments including solar panels, electric vehicles and LED lights.
The Town Mayor, Councillor Mark Cole JP, said, “Buckingham Town Council has worked hard to keep local taxes as low as possible, and this has been helped by the revenue which new housing is bringing to the town. As the five county and district councils merge into one unitary authority, Buckinghamshire Council, on May 1st to reduce costs, and this combined with our bidding to take over more services ourselves will hopefully allow us to find more ways of working together to provide value for money to householders in the future.”
The other Councils, Crime & Police Commissioner and Fire Authority set their own Council Tax rates and increases.