RAISING THE PRECEPT ?

Question

I am trying to understand the following statement as it relates  to the precept "Section 137, Power of Well-being, the Power of Competence is a power to spend not raise money.  It cannot be used to raise the precept".

To me the precept is set after the Councillor has resolved what money it needs for the following year and this can include earmarked and general reserves as well at  year round budget. Now inevitably projects decided under GPC can lead to the precept being increased i.e. when compared to the preceding year.

Am I confusing the word raise with increase? An explanation in plain English would be appreciated

Answer 1

It means you cannot use your 'power' to set another precept or raise another type of tax.

If your spending requires the (normal) precept to be raised, then it can be done but it has to be done at the proper budget meeting.

What this paragraph is trying to prevent is stop a parish creating a 'village green precept' or any other type of tax (applicable to all).

The reason is that a parish can charge (e.g. charging for a car park, or for stalls at a market, so it tries to ensure that there is clear difference between the Parish creating charges (for services), than creating an additional precept other than that 'official' precept.

To be clear, you can raise the precept to cover ANY legal spending, but you not create a new type of tax. You can create charges (that only apply to the user, e.g. village hall bookings).

Comments

Thank you,  this web site is so informative for residents who wish to understand the "rules of the game". It to me is the only genuine source of unbiased comment. I belong to several other forums and there are some improvements that could be made on this one .  Who runs it ?
I don't however understand the circumstances (or reason why) any PC would create another precept when in most instances surely it could raise any amounts required under the "official precept"