PARISH COUNCIL FINANCES
When you receive your Council Tax bill each year, it is accompanied by a booklet of notes explaining who gets how much. You will see that the bulk of the Council Tax goes to Devon County Council (about 80%) and East Devon District Council (about 9%), some to the Devon & Cornwall Police Authority (about 10%), and a small amount to the Parish Council (about 1%) - the Parish Precept. So where does this money go?
There is a parish council committee that considers all this finance stuff very carefully!
THE PARISH COUNCIL FINANCE & PROPERTY COMMITTEE
This might sound rather dull - after all, there can’t be much money, can there? - and what property does the parish own anyway? It just might be more than you think. Your Council Tax bill from EDDC collects taxes from every household to pay to Devon County Council and East Devon District Council . . . . and a bit to the Newton Poppleford & Harpford Parish Council. Towards the end of each financial year the F&P Committee puts together a budget for the following year, based upon known regular expenses and other planned expenses that will arise, plus a small contingency amount for unforeseen but necessary expenses.
What property does the Parish own? There aren’t many saleable assets (e.g. a small photocopier, and the official Notice Boards around the parish), but there are a couple of more valuable items: for example the doctors’ surgery (plus its furniture) next to the car park, and we have a new cemetery (of no resale value). Two new bus shelters were installed (next to the church, and outside Langsford Farm) in 2002. All these items have to be insured and maintained, and provision made for their replacement in due course. In 2007 the parish council took over the responsibility for running and maintaining the public loos in the car park, including paying the Business Rates on the building.
We employ a Parish Clerk who works part-time and undertakes the administration of the parish, which itself incurs cost for stationery, postage, telephone, photocopying etc. There is a fair amount of correspondence daily from various sources, e.g. residents of the parish, other levels of local government and central government, voluntary and service organisations etc. Many consultation documents arrive, all needing review and, in some cases, circulation and discussion by the council. Thus the Clerk is an important but quite expensive asset of the council’s. The council provides financial support to various local organisations such as the Village Hall, the Playing Fields Foundation charity, Ring & Ride service, the new Youth Club, and other charitable groups.
We all have to count the pennies!
Annual Precept 2008-09
Every year the parish council prepares a budget for the year to come; this is based upon previous years’ expenditure and on projects planned for the coming year. The day to day running of the parish requires a lot of administration (salary and expenses), hire of meeting rooms, maintenance of equipment (e.g. bus shelters and notice boards etc.), grass cutting, and grants to various bodies.
The precept for the current year (2008-09) is based upon the predicted budget and amounts to £27,000. This is allocated across the various budget headings as follows:
Work on the precept for the following year starts usually in October and can continue until its finalisation in February, at which time the information is passed to East Devon District Council for inclusion in the total Council Tax bill.
The parish council precept is added to those of the County Council District Council, Fire & Rescue Service, and the Police to produce the Council Tax bill which will be issued to each household in March.
Year Ending 31.03.09 |
Budget £ |
| Income | 2008/09 |
| Precept | 27,000.00 |
| DCC P3 | 1,200.00 |
| SWEB Wayleaves | 52.00 |
| Cemetery | 1,800.00 |
| Surgery | 2,400.00 |
| Rural Aid | 0.00 |
| Allotments | 280.00 |
| Other | 200.00 |
| Interest | 800.00 |
| VAT 2008/09 | 1,800.00 |
| Income Total | 35,532.00 |
| Expenditure | |
| Section 137 - Grants | |
| Ring & Ride | 266.00 |
| NP Voluntary Car Scheme | 200.00 |
| East Devon Citizens Advice Bureau | 160.00 |
| Youth Club | 250.00 |
| Others | 150.00 |
| Parochial Grants | |
| Playing Field | 3,000.00 |
| Village Hall | 2,000.00 |
| General Admin | |
| Clerk'sSalary | 9,000.00 |
| Parish Council NI | 350.00 |
| Clerk's Allowance | 800.00 |
| Clerk's Telephone | 140.00 |
| Clerk's Travelling | 300.00 |
| Postage, Stationary & Printing | 200.00 |
| Bank Charges | 40.00 |
| Other Expenditure | |
| Chairman's Allowance | 120.00 |
| Courses | 100.00 |
| Subscriptions | 700.00 |
| Insurance | 1,500.00 |
| Audit Fee | 600.00 |
| Room Hire | 150.00 |
| Elections | 600.00 |
| Other | 200.00 |
| Committee Expenditure | |
| Maintenance - Bus Shelters | 150.00 |
| Maintenance - Notice Boards | 500.00 |
| Maintenance - Church Green | 250.00 |
| Maintenance - Venn Ott. Green | 150.00 |
| Maintenance - Seats/Benches | 0.00 |
| New Cemetery | 200.00 |
| Land Purchase Repayment | 2,100.00 |
| Burial Ground Rates | 50.00 |
| Allotments | 150.00 |
| Other | 150.00 |
| Surgery - Cleaning | 800.00 |
| Surgery - Electricity/Telephone | 800.00 |
| Surgery Insurance | 430.00 |
| Cemetaries | 1,800.00 |
| Rural Aid | 0.00 |
| P3 - Parish Paths Partnership | 1,200.00 |
| (Lyn Coffin) Conveniences | 3,100.00 |
| Consumables | 150.00 |
| Water/Electricity | 1,200.00 |
| Toilet Maintenance | 150.00 |
| Rates | 750.00 |
| VAT 2006/07 | 1,000.00 |
| Expenditure Total | 35,906.00 |
| Net Difference | -374.00 |