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 money / precept (local tax)
Precept
This is the local tax levied by parish/town councils (known also as ‘local councils’) which is collected on their behalf by the Rating Authority. Rye’s Rating Authority is Rother District Council. Rye Town Council calculates its precept by preparing a detailed budget.
Rye’s total local precept consists not only of the sum needed by the Town Council to employ staff and deliver services but also the ‘Rye Special Expense’. This charge covers the cost to Rother District Council of maintaining/managing the town’s open spaces, Cricket Square and allotments. Rother argues that it must charge for these functions because they would be undertaken normally by the local council and it is principally the residents of Rye who derive benefit from them.
Rye Town Council’s precept is a small proportion of the total Council Tax collected by Rother District Council. For example, for the year 2006-07, the total Band D (average) charge of £1,386.89 for a Rye Council Tax payer is broken down as:
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% |
per week |
East Sussex County Council
Rother District Council
Sussex Police Authority
East Sussex Fire Authority
Rye Town Council
Rye Special Expense
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£1004.10
£137.15
£115.74
£70.26
£39.36
£20.28
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72.40
9.89
8.35
5.07
2.84
1.46
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£19.31
£2.64
£2.23
£1.35
76p
39p
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Local political cartoon, 1928 [courtesy of Frank Palmer]
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