AVERAGE council tax bills in Waverley look set to rise by around £50 this year, as councils and emergency services look to keep their precepts as low as possible. The news comes as Surrey County Council, whose share of the cash takes up the largest proportion of the bill, announced that it will keep its precept rise down to a maximum of five per cent. However, there is much uncertainty over the precepts of Waverley Borough Council and Surrey Police, which have yet to be revealed and may push the overall rise to more than £50 for the average home. On Tuesday, Surrey Council Council's executive met to discuss the council's spending for the next financial year Members of the executive agreed to propose a budget of £998 million, in line with government requests as to how it should spend its cash. A large proportion of the budget will be financed by a government grant, but a significant proportion is raised through council tax and it is this share of the precept which the county council has pledged to keep to a maximum of five per cent. Last year the average council tax bill in Farnham was £1,212.74, with £889.38 of it going to the county council. Assuming that the county council raises its bill by five per cent, this year's precept for it will be around £933.85 for the average home in Waverley. The recommendation for the budget has to be discussed and agreed by the full council, which meets on Tuesday, and until then there is work going on behind the scenes to find ways of cutting the rise even further. With a county council election taking place later this year, the ruling Conservatives will be looking to keep the rise as low as possible ,with the possibility of it being as low as 3.5 per cent - making the average share around £920.51. County council leader Nick Skellett said that the council was having to find ways of keeping costs low in very difficult circumstances, after the government again gave poor grants to fund services in Surrey. "Although it is agreed national policy to use up-to-date democratic information when distributing grant to local councils, this Labour government has resolutely refused to use information available from the 2001 census and this has led to councils, including Surrey, losing out," he said. "For the council year 2005/2006 they have insisted on using information from the 1991 census in areas such as child and adult social care, and we estimate the loss to Surrey is equivalent to 1.5 per cent on the council tax. "When questioned why they should continue using 14-year-old information on such matters as the number of critically ill children, one-parent families etc, the minister, Nick Raynsford, has said he could only use 2001 information when he has changed the basic formula. "The real reason is that they did not want to use up-to-date information because it would mean some redirection of resources to the country areas. In other words, it is a political manoeuvre. "Since 1991 successive government's policy has been to direct resources to the most deprived inner city areas and this has been successful in narrowing the gap between the metropolitan and country areas. "The government's main concern is not to redirect resources because they wish to protect their own authorities. "In my view this is unprecedented in its discrimination, and of course adds to the burden of council tax payers in Surrey." It is not only Surrey Council Council which is feeling the financial pressures, but also Waverley Borough Council and the county's police. Despite government claims that the Lib Dem- led borough council has received an extra £126,000 in grant funding compared to last year, a 2.5 per cent rise, the council says that in reality it is only getting an extra £45,000 - an increase of less than one per cent. The borough council has a huge financial deficit, but has already warned that it is likely to carry over much of that deficit into next year. when measures to tackle it are put in place. This means that a massive hike in its share of the precept, which was £132.21 for the average Farnham household, is not expected this year. On Monday the council's executive will meet and agree a budget to recommend to the full council meeting on February 15. Assuming a modest increase of three per cent, the borough council's share of the precept would be around £136.18. It is a similar story for Surrey police authority which will be examining its budgets on Friday next week. Last year its share of the precept was £147.06. A modest three per cent rise will take it to around £151.47 for the average home in Waverley. These figures, on top of the town council's share of the bill which is around £46.25, means that the total council tax bill in Farnham is likely to be around £1,267.75.
