Finance - Accounts & AGAR

The Parish Council is empowered to raise money for their activities through a tax on residents called the precept.  This is collected on our behalf by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council as an addition in the Council Tax bill and paid to the Parish Council in two equal instalments at the end of April and in September.  The amount paid by each household is determined by the rate band into which their property falls.

Careful planning is required to ensure that we can continue to provide and maintain the play areas, sports grounds and open spaces we already have and to make improvements.  To this end, in October each year the working parties draw up their budgeted revenue costs for the following year commencing 1 April together with costs of other long term projects.   These are incorporated into the full budget which sets the level of precept we require.  The budget and precept request are formally approved at the January meeting of the full Parish Council.

Currently the precept is not actually capped, however, we endeavour to keep any increases to roughly the rate of inflation.  This means that sometimes projects we would very much like to undertake have to be put on hold or the funds gradually built up.

Borrowing is allowed, up to a prescribed limit and with formal written approval of the Secretary of State.  This source of funding was obtained by Oakley & Deane Parish Council to help finance the re-building of the Peter Houseman Pavilion in 2012.

Grants may be obtained for specific purposes from various sources including the Borough and County Councils and the Parish Council actively seeks grant funding for all capital projects wherever possible.

Our finances are subject to scrutiny each year by an external auditor and the Parish Council is pleased to report that for many years there have been no matters where the auditor has had to report any failings in our compliance.