Midsomer Norton Town Council has tentatively agreed an eight per cent increase in the part it plays in setting council tax, an increase of £8.52 per year for a band D property, putting the yearly total to £115.03.

However during the meeting HERE councillors were told they would then need to go back and look at the overall budget and what the proposed increase would mean to the balance sheet. But putting the precept ahead of the budget horse, was later claimed to be contravening Local Government Law - and the Midsomer Norton town budget - which will be facing a big financial shortfall, needed to be put in place before any decision can be set .

During the meeting last week councillors heard that there was a regrettable lack of transparency about council budget business, following a robust debate earlier in the year when the budget discussion was cut short. Councillors and the press were told that full and clear debate about funding would be on the agenda at this February meeting.

The council now has an interim clerk, following the resignation of both the clerk and the deputy clerk, who advised the meeting on whether they could in fact set a precept without agreeing a budget. Although agreed at the Midsomer meeting, Cllr Sean Hughes of B&NES said this was not the case and he would be asking the monitoring authority to look at how the council was operating.

At the meeting in January, he was specifically critical of the lack of scrutiny of spending at Midsomer which originally had proposed a much bigger increase in the precept. Even the agenda of the early February meeting, no longer appears on the web site.

One of the main concerns of the council are the big costs being incurred by the renovation of the Town Hall, which one councillor insisted was simply crumbling without investment. Councillor Gordon McKay insisted that : " The Town Hall will be a money making asset for the community in a few years time - it is forward looking and ambitious."

As Midsomer Norton residents wait to hear what their new council tax will be, the rises for local policing have been published.

The local Police and Crime Commissioner has announced that the share of the precept for policing will be increasing by six per cent, following a consultation which has caused questions due to the very small number of residents who responded.

Six per cent is the maximum that government will allow the precept to go up in 2023/24 without the PCC being required to hold a referendum. However according to The Leveller magazine, only 3,760 people responded to his appeal for feedback, while the Avon & Somerset force polices a population of over a million people, so a response rate of less than half of one percent.

Meantime council tax in Bath and North East Somerset will go up by 4.99%.

While the County Councils Network (CCN) found three-quarters of English councils with social care duties that have published budget details are planning a 5% hike. This is the maximum allowed without a local vote, and would add £100 a year to bills for average Band D properties.