Councillors will tonight be asked to approve an increase of £15 in the town's share of the council tax charges, taking the average total rise to £81.

The hike in the charges to its residents covers just the town council's requirements and does not include the increases set to be made by Suffolk County Council, Babergh District Council and the Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner and Adult Social Care.

It means the average council tax payer, calculated on a Band D property, will face paying an extra of £15 per annum, approximately 29p per week, just for the Hadleigh increase, and a potential increase of £81 per person per annum. per annum, taking them from £1,848.18 to £1929.59, an overall rise of 4.4%.

Babergh plan to increase its part of the precent by £5, 3.9%, for a Band D property. The loss of council tax income due to more people claiming discounts due to the pandemic, has meant the Tax Base set by Babergh District Council for 2021/22 will reduce from £2992.03 to £2876.53, a 3.9% reduction.

Therefore, if no change was made to the Band D precept of £112.96 this would result in a reduction of £8,047 in the precept amount that Hadleigh council receives.

Budget documents show a precept Income of £368,081 which reflects the recommendation of the Council Matters Committee, chaired by Cllr Rolf Beggerow, to increase the precept by £15 per annum (= 29p per week) resulting in the Band D Council Tax increasing from £112.96 to £127.96.

Councillors will discuss and vote on the budget tonight and the meeting can be seen by the public on Zoom here...

Budget recommendation reasons to increase precept:

• The cost of the new cemetery extension (£742K) has to date received zero contribution from the precept following a 500K loan/repayment commitment made in 2018 until 2043. Our current projected new cemetery income streams indicate the capital costs will not be recovered until beyond 2043.

• The increased costs of supporting the Hadleigh Market Feoffment Charity during COVID-19 Lockdown.

• The need to maintain the level of general reserves within recommended boundaries.

• The ambition to support the council's future capital spending programmes, namely upgrades to Layham Road Sports facilities, skate park Extension, CCTV Upgrade, speed cameras, play area equipment.

• To recognise that in the current and future economic post COVID-19 climate, raising the precept to achieve a fully balanced budget is unreasonable and we should therefore accept a manageable deficit in 2021/22 with the resulting reduction in general reserves.