New housing developments in Ripon have enabled the parish precept charged to council tax payers in the city to be frozen for the second successive year.
The parish precept is charged on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council, Harrogate Borough Council and the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.
It means residents living in a Band D property will pay a parish precept of £71.89 for the year. People in Bands A to C properties will pay less and those in Bands E to H will pay more.
At last night’s meeting of Ripon City Council, the draft budget for 2022-2023 was unanimously approved after independent council leader Andrew Williams told members:
“Because of the increased number of new houses built in Ripon, we are able to raise a levy of £410,902, at no extra cost to the charge payer.”
Hugh Ripley Hall
The figure represents a 3% increase for the parish council budget, which stood at £400,000 last year and Cllr Williams explained:
“As we are collecting from a larger base, we are able to freeze the precept for the second year running.
“We believe that this is the right and proper thing to do, at a time when families are under greater financial pressure through increased fuel and other costs.”
The bulk of the money will be spent on the queen’s platinum jubilee celebration in June, other public and civic events during the year and items including town hall rent and the management and upkeep of Hugh Ripley Hall and Ripon’s team of hornblowers.
Conservative councillor Mike Chambers, who represents Ripon at city, district and county council level, said:
“I am delighted that there will be no increase in the parish precept and I lend it my support.”
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Ripon City Council will not be increasing its parish precept for the 2021-2022 financial year.
In 2020-2021 council taxpayers in the city were charged £71.89, on top of the tax paid to North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council.
The precept in Ripon provided a total fund of £400,000 last year.
A total of £100,000 from next year’s budget is being allocated for public events from summer onwards in the hope that coronavirus will be under sufficient control by then to allow them to go ahead.
Money is also being set aside for the renewal of children’s play equipment at Quarry Moor Park and external decoration of Hugh Ripley Hall – the building on Skellbank named in honour of the city’s first mayor.
City council leader Andrew Williams told the Stray Ferret:
“With the current covid crisis and the impact it is having, we decided to keep the precept at the same level as last year.
“It has been a difficult time for everybody with three lockdowns, causing disruption to, among other things, the city’s retailers and the education of children.
“In addition, public events that have been a feature of life in Ripon over many generations had to be cancelled because of the coronavirus.
“However, we must look to the future and make plans and allocate prudent funding that enables us to move forward safely when the lifting of restrictions allow.”
Ripon’s 2020 Christmas lights were extended after an additional £65,000 from the parish precept was spent on them last year.
During 2020, the council set aside £65,000 for a number of public and civic events, including the 75th anniversary celebration of VE Day, Saint Wilfrid’s Day procession, summer bank holiday entertainment, Remembrance Sunday and Christmas and New Year festivities — all of which had to be cancelled.
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The parish precept money, that would have been spent on these events and others, was subsequently diverted to pay for Ripon’s Christmas lights to be extended to help retailers and make city streets more attractive.
That move attracted criticism from some people who thought the money could have been better spent by providing direct financial support for retailers and other businesses affected by the pandemic.