A council could increase its share of council tax by a smaller percentage after forecasting end of year savings.

Speaking at Wednesday's Uppingham Town Council meeting (November 4), finance committee chairman David Ainslie informed members that the council's accounts could be £15,000 "to the good" by the end of the financial year.

Cllr Ainslie attributed the forecasted surplus to a successful run of town hall and market stall lettings, adding roughly £5,000 to another pool of funds generated by salary and training costs savings.

As a result, Cllr Ainslie recommended the council increase precepts – its share of council tax bills – by no more than 3 per cent for the financial year spanning 2027 and 2028, undercutting the current retail prices index inflation rate of 0.9 per cent.

Cllr Charles Pilcher questioned whether the council could further reduce the planned increase, but Cllr Ainslie suggested doing so would be neither "prudent nor sensible".

He said: "Every one per cent we deal with equates to £2,000. If we reduced precepts to say two per cent, it looks good that we've reduced it, but really all we've done is take £2,000 off our spending.

"We absolutely recognise the cost of living crisis out there, which is why we've tried to keep it as close to inflation as we can. We think this is a robust budget but we don't think it would be prudent or appropriate to go below inflation."

Members heard that by virtue of Cllr Hugh Illingworth's resignation, the council could save an additional £3,000.

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Under local government rules, Uppingham Town Council may be permitted to forgo selecting his replacement as the authority is almost within six months of a scheduled election.

If 10 members of the public request an election, however, the council would be obligated to hold one.

"I don't want to stifle democracy – if the public wants an election they can have one," Cllr Ainslie added. "But from a finance point of view, the good news is we're £3000 up by not holding an election, so that helps."

The council agreed to review the budget then reconvene next month to vote on its official approval.