Salisbury Parish Poll on council tax taking place TODAY
Residents living in the City Council area can have a say on future precepts
Salisbury residents can vote in a city wide parish poll on council tax today (Thursday 20th April).
The ballot will only be open between 4.00pm and 9.00pm for people who live in the City Council area.
The question being asked in the poll is:
“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%?”
There's just two polling stations for the poll - at Salisbury Guildhall and Five Rivers Leisure Centre.
People can vote at one of those sites, based on which ward they live in:
If you are unsure of your ward, you can check the City Council’s website - just put in your postcode and your councillors and ward will be shown.
A map's also been created by Wiltshire Council showing which polling station people should attend:
There'll be no postal voting or proxy voting in the ballot though - you have to go in person if you want to cast a vote, but ID won't be required.
Why is a Parish Poll being planned?
This all follows a proposed 44% increase in the precept, put forward for Salisbury City Council in this financial year.
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.
The poll's been called after two Parish Meetings called by residents, asking for a vote on the limit at which the City Council can raise the precept.