COUNCILLORS have defended the town council precept increase as ‘money well spent’.

Taxpayers in Band D properties – households of average value used as a benchmark for council tax calculations – will pay £56.78 for the town council portion of their council tax bill in 2018/19.

This represents an increase of £6.94 – or around 14 per cent – on last year’s figures and an overall town council precept of £326,835, but members were quick to point out that residents received more value for money than other areas of the borough.

Despite the increase, Knutsford remains the fourth-cheapest town in the borough in terms of council tax, with Nantwich residents paying the most in 2017/18 at £104.60, and Wilmslow the least at £27.45 per household.

Cllr Peter Coan said: “Each committee has gone through their budgets line by line and tried to keep their increases as low as is possible.

“When you compare it to those other similar towns it’s nothing. I think that it money well spent considering the due diligence each committee has gone through.”

Cllr Stewart Gardiner recalled the leaps forward Knutsford Town Council had taken in recent years.

He said: “As a council we do an awful lot. We need a larger staff and that means we spend more and we need to raise more money from somewhere, and that is you – the residents.”

Key allocations in the upcoming budget include an increased backing for Knutsford Music Festival, and large grants for a community multi-use games area at Manor Park School as well as help for Knutsford heritage centre’s old carpet shop expansion bid.

There is also renewed funding for CCTV, while staffing costs rise to fall in with national living wage guidelines.

Meanwhile, increases to earmarked reserves mean the council’s general reserves were reduced by £9,000 to £100,000. Total reserves for 2018/19 are 287,635.

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