PENARTH councillors have voted to increase the town precept by more than 11 per cent for Band D council tax payers in the next financial year.

The 11.08 per cent increase means that households in the Band ‘D’ council tax bracket will see an increase of £5.76 per annum on their household bills. In means the precept cost of a Band D council tax household would be £57.52.

The precept amount will total £636,946, with the bulk of the money funding the council’s budget for the upcoming financial year. The precept is collected by the Vale Council via council tax bills and is spent by Penarth Town Council.

Councillors voted to contribute £40,000 from the general reserves, the highest amount recommended, in a bid to reduce the percentage increase of the precept to 11.08 per cent for Band D households.

If the council hadn’t made a contribution the precept would have increased by 18.05 per cent, with the cost of a Band D council tax household increasing to £61.34.

During the policy and finance committee meeting the council also set itself a budget of £676,964 for the next financial year of 2015/2016. The budget is an increase of £90,480, or 15.43 per cent, compared to the £586,466 budget of last year.

The budget will be spent by the town council’s various committees, which include policy and finance, leisure and amenities and town twinning, as well as the five year rolling programme.

Leader of the town council, councillor Michael Cuddy, said that the proposed increase of more than 18 per cent was misleading as there were 250 new billable dwellings in Penarth and “the impact is not as great as that statistic implies as you look at household by household”.

He said the budget and precept was a “step change” in what the authority was trying to do.

“We have been trying to become a modern council responsive to problems in a medium sized town,” he said.

“We want to be able to support the community in a relevant way.”

He added that the council had chosen to “invest to save”, as the money raised would go towards investing in the likes of Event Cinema and making changes to the premises owned by the council, which include the Kymin and the Paget Rooms.

“We hope to secure reasonable rates which the community benefit from and subsidise,” he said.

“We hope to extend mixed use without lowering fees.”

Councillor Mark Wilson, who represents the Stanwell ward, said he was well aware the budget was a “major step change” as the council tried to promote Event Cinema and bring its facilities to a more modern standard to host weddings, but recommended £40,000 be contributed from general reserves so that it would only be an 11 per cent increase on the precept.

Councillor Martin Turner, who represents the Plymouth ward, said he recognised it was a “very ambitious programme for the council” and said he had listened to what the public had to say, but added “if we can mitigate what the community have to pay I support that.”

Councillor Gwyn Roberts, who represents the St Augustine’s ward, said: “When one looks at the figures they are almost startling, but the fact is the precept is also small. It’s 10p per property not per person.”

He added “with the ambition the council has for the community there is a very real possibility we will be able to recover all and more” as increased use of facilities would bring greater revenue.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the draft budget and precept during a policy and finance committee meeting last Thursday (January 22).