Barry Town Council reveals a 2.3% council tax rise alongside proposed budget.
BARRY Town Council recently unveiled its draft 2021/22 budget to the public.
The Town Council expects expenditure for the coming year to be £1,391,422 with a projected income of £150,736.
This means Barry Town Council will need to raise £1,235,686 to continue delivering council services after using the £5,000 it has in reserves.
The draft budget suggests that a Band D council tax payer would pay £59.79 per year – an increase of 2.3%.
However, this is just the precept for Barry Town Council. Barry residents will pay their usual council tax bill via the Vale of Glamorgan Council, which will include the Barry Town Council share.
One of the council’s largest expenditures is the green-flag Merthyr Dyfan Cemetery with Barry Town Council as the burial authority.
The budget earmarks £310,756 for the cemetery to provide statutory services as well as enhancements and additional COVID-19 costs such as PPE.
£150,000 has been earmarked as ‘core funding’ for The Memo Arts Centre and £52,205 has been budgeted for a new community centre at Cemetery Approach.
Another £45,000 has been set aside as grants for local community centres, while £30,000 will be used to maintain and improve the town’s Christmas lights.
£29,069 is allocated to maintain a community space at Pioneer Hall and £15,000 has been budgeted to help traders improve the High Street and other shopping areas around Barry.
However, some residents have already questioned the budget.
During the public consultation period, local resident Matthew Lock questioned some of the budgeted amounts.
“Ultimately I’d like them to just do a good job and not waste public money,” he said. “I have responded to their consultation, but I really doubt anyone else has.”
Among the issues Mr Lock has raised is the question of council property rents: “Why has the cost of rent increased by £16,000 to £36,000? I can assume this was due to the move to Town Hall but I was previously told the move from the Memorial Hall was to save money. If this is not the case, was the move a good idea?”
Mr Lock also asked why £3,000 is earmarked to ‘set up and deliver Barry Youth Council when this already appeared on last year’s budget.
“It states this £3000 is to set up and deliver Barry Youth Council. Was it not set up previously as I remember attending an event for it. Perhaps they could explain what needs setting up again and what has caused it to fail previously?”
Mr Lock has raised a number of other issues which will be addressed at the next council meeting in February.
Full details of the proposed draft budget are available at the Barry Town Council website.
Barry Town Council will discuss the draft budget at a meeting on 22 February in the Town Hall Chamber.
