Cheshire Fire Authority also wants more of your money

Hot on the heels of Cheshire Police’s consultation on a council tax precept increase, Cheshire Fire Authority has launched its own.

The Government is permitting fire authorities to increase their precept by up to £5.00 per year for a Band D property so that’s what Cheshire Fire Authority are pursuing.

Cheshire Fire will consider its budget in February 2023 and at the meeting it will agree its council tax precept for 2023/24. Before deciding what to do, the Authority is keen to understand what people think. 

The impact of this proposed increase on all council tax bands would be as follows:

Band A – an increase of £3.33 per year, taking the annual precept from £54.99 to £58.32
Band B – an increase of £3.89 per year, taking the annual precept from £64.15 to £68.04
Band C – an increase of £4.44 per year, taking the annual precept from £73.32 to £77.76
Band D – an increase of £5.00 per year, taking the annual precept from £82.48 to £87. 48
Band E – an increase of £6.11 per year, taking the annual precept from £100.81 to £106.92
Band F – an increase of £7.22 per year, taking the annual precept from £119.14 to £126.36
Band G – an increase of £8.33 per year, taking the annual precept from £137.47 to £145.80
Band H – an increase of £10.00 per year, taking the annual precept from £164.96 to £174.96

Remember, this is on top of the inevitable 6% on your total Cheshire East council tax bill – plus the potential 10.7% increase in the police precept and the equality inevitable increase demanded by the toothless and pointless Macclesfield Town Council.

Residents are encouraged to take a few moments to share their views on the proposed Fire Authority increase by completing a short online survey, open until Monday 23 January 2023: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CheshireFire2023Precept

You could, of course, take a few moments to recall when you last heard of a fire – or saw a copper in your neighbourhood – and vote for no increase.

Sadly, you won’t have any way of challenging the punitive increase levied by Cheshire East on your council tax.