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The Parish Precept and Budget
To support its services, the Town council raises funds through a Precept. The Precept is calculated as follows:
- We estimate our income from Market Rents, Burial Charges, hire fees from user groups hiring our buildings and facilities, grants etc.
- Expenditure is estimated based upon historic expenditure and adding planned capital expenditures and taking account of known increases for some of our overheads.
- Taking one from the other, we are left with a figure that is required to be levied by a precept, to maintain our services. It is that precept that determines how much Council Tax you pay to the Town Council.
- Only A small proportion of your Overall Council Tax comes to the Town Council to help the Town Council provide appropriate services. The rest goes to Doncaster Council and the Police.
The principal facilities and activities that the Council provide through this budget are:
· 4 Community Buildings
· Thorne Cemetery
· 4 Sports Grounds
· Thorne Memorial Park
· Thorne Community Wood
· Delves Fishing Ponds
· Canal Swing Bridge
· Thorne Market
· Events including Fireworks
· Christmas Lights and Moorends Christmas Event
The Council has faced a number of pressures on its budgets. These include:
1. Central Government Grant Reduction - In recent years the amount of money we receive from central government has been decreasing year on year. In the 2020/2021 financial we will receive no funds at all from the government. In years gone by the grant has represented a significant proportion of the Councils income. As recently as 2017/2018 the Grant amounted to £65,644 (more than 10% of our overall operating costs). In years gone by that figure has been much higher still.
2. Wages – Our staff are paid as part of a national agreement for public sector workers. Wages do increase annually under this agreement and in recent years has seen significant rises for lower paid workers.
3. Building Improvements and Repairs – the Council has been working to improve the quality of its buildings, and has increased its range of cyclical safety checks in recent years. Further works are needed on buildings to ensure their safety and to improve the standard of the facilities.
4. Outdoor facilities – the Town Council provide the only significant areas of recreational land within Thorne and Moorends. These together with the Cemetery represent a significant maintenance cost which includes safety work to the many thousands of trees that we are responsible for.
The Council works hard to control its costs and with larger expenditure items will seek multiple quotes to ensure it is getting the best value, despite that just like domestic bills at home, we continue to see rises in the costs of our core overheads.
Councillors receive no payment for the time that is put in, and do not claim any expenses.
· 4 Community Buildings
· Thorne Cemetery
· 4 Sports Grounds
· Thorne Memorial Park
· Thorne Community Wood
· Delves Fishing Ponds
· Canal Swing Bridge
· Thorne Market
· Events including Fireworks
· Christmas Lights and Moorends Christmas Event
The Council has faced a number of pressures on its budgets. These include:
1. Central Government Grant Reduction - In recent years the amount of money we receive from central government has been decreasing year on year. In the 2020/2021 financial we will receive no funds at all from the government. In years gone by the grant has represented a significant proportion of the Councils income. As recently as 2017/2018 the Grant amounted to £65,644 (more than 10% of our overall operating costs). In years gone by that figure has been much higher still.
2. Wages – Our staff are paid as part of a national agreement for public sector workers. Wages do increase annually under this agreement and in recent years has seen significant rises for lower paid workers.
3. Building Improvements and Repairs – the Council has been working to improve the quality of its buildings, and has increased its range of cyclical safety checks in recent years. Further works are needed on buildings to ensure their safety and to improve the standard of the facilities.
4. Outdoor facilities – the Town Council provide the only significant areas of recreational land within Thorne and Moorends. These together with the Cemetery represent a significant maintenance cost which includes safety work to the many thousands of trees that we are responsible for.
The Council works hard to control its costs and with larger expenditure items will seek multiple quotes to ensure it is getting the best value, despite that just like domestic bills at home, we continue to see rises in the costs of our core overheads.
Councillors receive no payment for the time that is put in, and do not claim any expenses.