Oakham Town Council has agreed to raise its precept by just under five per cent this year. 

The authority, which is led by chairman Paul Ainsley, agreed the budget for next year, which will see Oakham taxpayers asked for an additional £3.50 per year towards the town council's share of the bill. 

Altogether the town council will have £293,794 to spend. 

The budget was agreed by just four of the six councillors present with Cllr Sally Wadsworth deciding to abstain and Cllr Martin Brookes voting against. 

Cllr Brookes said that due to the £119,00 the council has in reserves, coupled with difficulties some Oakham families had with paying bills, he could not support a precept rise.  

He said: "We are not Rutland County Council. We are not being told by the government to raise our precept. We are just doing it to top it [reserves] up."  

The council tax bill received by Oakham residents is made up of precepts from the town council, police and fire authorities and the largest sum comes from the county council. This year the authority is asking for a 4.99 per cent increase, which is due to be discussed, and likely agreed, next month. If approved, this will put an additional £105 on the bill of a for an average Band D tax payer for county council managed services. 

The Oakham Town Council budget for the year ahead includes a £9,000 sum which could be used to pay allowances to councillors to attend. 

Oakham Town Council spent £27,000 on the Oakham Hopper Bus Service (Photo: Rutland County Council)

The authority has had a high turnover in recent years and after the meeting, Cllr Ainsley said although the allowances had not been approved, they were a possibility as a way to encourage more people to join the authority. Typically, parish councillors do not receive allowances, only unitary councillors do.  As chairman, Cllr Ainsley receives an annual £2,000 allowance to cover the cost of attending events and external meetings. 

A breakdown of the budget figures shows that the town council spends around a third of its annual outlay on salaries, paying £75,000 on staffing costs. It spends £32,000 per year on grounds maintenance and the toilets in Church Street cost £17,500 per year to maintain. 

The council spent £40,000 on community lighting and £27,000 on the Oakham Hopper bus service.