Council taxpayers in the borough of Maidstone, which includes residents in the Weald villages of Headcorn, Marden and Staplehurst, will find out tonight how much they will have to pay in Council Tax in the next financial year.

The figure will be determined by a meeting of the full council which starts at 6.30pm.

But the vote is expected to be largely a rubber-stamp exercise.

A budget for the year has already be drawn up by the council's director of finance, Mark Green, and approved by its policy and resources committee.

The suggestion is for the average Band D house to pay £270.90 towards the borough council's costs.

That may not sound so much, but the borough council also collects with the council tax the precepts for a number of other bodies which make the total mount up.
The figures for a Band D house are another £1,259 for KCC, £159 for the special adult social care supplement, £218 for the police and £80 for the fire authority, which brings the total to £1,988.

That hides the fact that households pay on a banding system, supposedly representing the value of their homes.

So while those in the least valuable Band A group will pay £1,325, those at the top end of the scale in Band H will pay £3,977.

On top of that, residents who live in a parished area with their own parish or town council will pay an additional parish precept, which might be anywhere up to £123 for a Band D house for those living in Headcorn, the highest rated village.

The leader of the Conservative group is expected to propose an amendment to the budget as currently set, but it is a technical one only.

Cllr John Perry wants to allocate an additional £139,000 to fund further work on the Local Plan Review, and to set aside an extra £5,560 to reflect the increased cost of the borrowing which the council has undertaken for its capital expenditure programme.

However, he is proposing both changes be financed by reducing the level of reserves, so the overall effect on Council Tax charges will be zero.

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