Council tax freeze by Ash Parish Council

At the January meeting the Chairman, Cllr. Nigel Manning of Ash Parish Council, announced a Council tax freeze. In the meeting he said, “It has been a difficult time for our residents, with lock down causing financial and other hardships. As a result of that I would like to announce that subject to agreement ash parish council will be freezing its council tax so that there will be a nil increase for the forthcoming year of 2021-2022”.

This was agreed unanimously by all councillors, and it was recorded that the Ash Parish Council Precept for the forthcoming municipal year 2021-22 will be £489,814 which is a band D equivalent of £72.44.

Cllr. Manning explained that because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the last financial year had been very difficult in terms of income for the Council and gave an example of the loss of income from the hiring of the Ash Centre. He cited that owing to the many years of sound financial planning and management, the Parish Council has still been able to undertake its programme of capital projects and maintenance of existing assets.

COVID-19, has brought devastating effects which have caused misery and financial hardship to many in the community. Ash Parish News spoke with Cllr. Manning after the meeting, and he said, “I was pleased to announce a council tax freeze or nil increase in the Parish Rate which I hoped will help reduce some of the stress and financial burden for Ash residents”.

The Council Tax bill collected by Guildford Borough Council contains sums to meet the plans of Surrey County Council, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey and each parish council. Guilford Borough Council also provides a full break down of how the tax is allocated.

What is a precept?

The Precept is a tax that Parish Council’s charge their local electors / residents to meet their budget requirements. This is collected via the council tax bill, which includes tax for County, Borough and the Parish precept.