THE town council precept for Newtown and Llanllwchaiarn is set to rise by 16.9 per cent following a special public session which saw the town council set its budget for 2019/20.

The cost per band D household will change by £1.89 per month to £172.31 per annum, giving the council a total precept of £746.697.

The Mayor, Cllr Sue Newham, said the council had been required to make “difficult decisions” in this year’s budget, in the face of declining levels of support from the county council.

“I’d like to thank all councillors for the way they have gone about making these serious and at times, difficult decisions,” she said.

“The budget had been through several iterations of consideration/reconsideration by each committee – with all members having had good opportunity to input and debate pros and cons of the budget plan for 2019-20.

“Even where there are differences of opinion it’s a testament to the hard work done by the committees and their support staff that there is readiness to listen and respect alternative viewpoints.”

The council says it has lost £11,000 of Powys CC grants for public toilets, and has been required to earmark more than £32,000 for marketing and tourism to coincide with the completion of the Newtown Bypass.

An additional £10,000 has been allocated for work on St Mary’s Church, as well as additional work on flowerbeds in the town centre, costs of legal obligations on property maintenance, and providing the staff resource to deliver the five-year business plan.

Cllr John Barker, chair of Resources Committee, added: “Given the uncertainty around county council finances, it’s even more important that the town council plans and invests for the future rather than merely dealing with or maintaining the present, and I think the combination of the 5-year business plan on which we consulted widely last year and this budget plan gives a firm foundation for the town council to do just that.

“We have tried to strike a balance between our ambitions for the town and the need to limit any increase in the charges to our residents. This increase of under £2 a month is similar to other large towns in Powys.”