Wednesday 2pm - HOUSEHOLDERS in the Boston area can begin to look forward to lower council tax bills…but at what cost?
Boston Borough Council noted the revised amounts at full council on Monday, after the Government capped how much Lincolnshire Police Authority could charge.
It means the average Band D household will see a £70 reduction in their bill, as the polic
e precept falls from a 78.86 per cent increase to 25.99 per cent.
From mid to late October new bills will be sent out across the borough at an estimated cost of £150,000.
Boston Borough Council – as a billing authority – is taking on agency staff as a result, but it will be Lincolnshire Police Authority picking up the bill.
Conservative member Coun John Rylatt argued, however, this still came at a cost to the borough's ratepayers.
"This money is not police money. It may come out of its budget, but its taxpayers' money again," he said.
"They have gone down an absolutely ludicrous path. They knew there would be costs incurred to this council."
He continued: "There must be some way to control these local authorities making exorbitant charges on the taxpayers next year."
Boston Bypass Independent (BBI) member and portfolio holder for financial management and rural communities Coun Richard Lenton reassured members the council had expressed in 'no uncertain terms' its disproval of the tax hike to Lincolnshire Police Authority in prior to it being set.
He pledged continued support for the next financial year.
"We will do our upmost to keep our end of this tax down and keep a good deal for the people of this town," he said.
The full article contains 283 words and appears in Boston Standard newspaper.
