Date set for Salisbury referendum on council tax
A parish poll will be held next month to try and prevent big precept rises
A referendum on council tax rises will be held in Salisbury next month.
It's the outcome of two parish meetings, called by local residents, asking if a cap should be put in place to prevent Salisbury City Council imposing large increases in the council tax precept.
The poll will be held on Thursday 20th April, with only those living within the Salisbury City Council area eligible to vote.
Ballot papers will ask one question:
Do you support a 5% cap on future increases to the Salisbury City Council precept and a parish consultation if any proposed increase is larger than 5%?
This all follows a proposed 44% increase in the precept, put forward for SCC in the next financial year, which begins in April.
The authority claims the rise is needed to cover their growing costs in taking on more services from Wiltshire Council, as well as more expensive overheads like energy bills.
But the increase has also been criticised at a time when other bills are going up for households.
There's no details at yet about where the polling stations for the parish will be, as that's being arranged by Wiltshire Council.
We should get those locations by Thursday 13th April.
The referendum also includes a few other differences to other ballots:
- The poll will be open between 4.00pm and 9.00pm on Thursday 20th April
- There's no provision for poll cards, postal voting or proxy voting - electors have to vote in person
- The only person legally entitled to attend the count is the proposer