Camelford Town Council has decided that the precept for 2009-10 will be kept close to last year's level at £90,066. The tax payable for the parish element of a Band D property will stand at £88.21, the equivalent of £1.70 per week.

Chairman of Camelford Town Council's finance committee, Cllr Bob Ireland reported: "The fiscal year 2008–9 was a particularly difficult one for Camelford Town Council. Precepts have to be set well in advance. For the current year they were submitted in November 2007, but we subsequently found that we would have to carry considerable additional legal costs, the scale of which had not been foreseen at the time.

"For this reason the council has had to run a very tight ship and we believe that this close control on our expenditure will see us through the rest of this year with only a very small budget variance. In order to achieve this there were a number of things that we would have liked to have achieved but have not been able to. We will be addressing some of those problems during the coming year.

"A significant amount is to be spent on town amenities. In Enfield Park we have taken advice from several agencies and will be progressing our plans to tidy up the park without destroying its natural charm. The river bank and the pond are to receive attention, and, following a tree survey, we realise that extensive maintenance is needed.

"We have applied for grant funding to update the play area in the park. If we are successful in this we will be required to find approximately 10 per cent of the cost from our own resources. However, since we do not know whether or not we will be successful, it would be unfair to the taxpayers of Camelford to include the amount, £16,000, in this year's precept. If we have to find the money, it will be taken from reserves and replaced over time.

"Currently, the town council office in College Road is not conducive to the efficient working of the council and we have applied to NCDC/One Cornwall to move to other accommodation within the same building. The move will cost approximately an additional £1,600.

"During the current year, we have had to spend over £6,000 on by-elections. We have provided a similar sum in the budget for this year, but the circumstances this year are different and, although budgeted, the figure will not be included in the precept.

"Similarly, the council has underwritten the Charter celebrations to the tune of £5,000, but the group organising those celebrations are busily raising funds elsewhere, and are working hard to ensure that they will not need to call on the council to fulfil its pledge.

"Nevertheless the council is well aware that things do easily go wrong and has built into both the budget and the precept an amount of £10,000 to cover contingencies.

"Taking all this into account and bearing in mind the country's present economic difficulties, the council has decided it will have another frugal year, keeping the precept close to last year's level, at £90,066. Because of a reduced collection expectation next year, the tax payable for a Band 'D' property will stand at £88.21, the equivalent of £1.70 per week."