The coalition government is proposing a statutory and local mechanism for controlling increases in council tax, including parish council precepts, to replace the present capping system. The Consultation document – veto by referendum of excessive council tax – can be found at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1657699.pdf
An extract of interest to parish councils is this:
Parish precepts 'There has been a growing awareness in recent years of the council tax increases set by local precepting authorities, and of the very high precept increases set by some town and parish councils in particular. Increases in council tax revenue from town and parish councils have outstripped those for England in each of the last five years. The average town and parish precept set in some billing authorities (around £100) is larger than that of the smallest shire district of Breckland (£68). It is right that local precepting authorities should have the resources they need to support neighbourhoods and local communities. However it is also right that council taxpayers are protected from excessive increases.'
In Empingham the precept for this year is £28.30 (Band D) per household - a 14.6% decrease on the previous year.
And further:
'There are occasions when authorities may set council tax increases that are very large when expressed in percentage terms, even though the absolute cash increase is very small. To prevent such authorities from being required to hold a referendum – and to protect the large majority of smaller parish councils and other local precepting authorities – the Government intends, again as a matter of policy, to include a standard de minimis principle which would provide a ‘double lock’ mechanism.'
An impact assessment for a proposed Localism Bill, setting out the implications of a referendum on council tax increases can be found at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/localgovernment/pdf/1686648.pdf
Your Editor's opinion (not necessarily that of the council) is that for parish councils, such as Empingham, it would be far more sensible for proposed budgets to be approved by a parish meeting, rather than to conduct an expensive referendum. This would formalise a control that already seems to exist, in that on at least one occasion a parish council was obliged to roll back an increase in its precept after a campaign by local electors.
