Caradon is set to endorse its final figures for council tax bills for the financial year 2000/01 on February 16 - and it looks as if members will push through an eight per cent rise on the district rate.

To this will be added the totals required by the county council, which is likely to demand over an 11 per cent rise on its bills for l999/00, and the town/parish and police.

Towns and parishes in the district have already forwarded their individual precepts to Caradon, these totalling £758,100. Caradon's nett cost of services for the coming year, including the precepts, totals £8,956,100. Of this £3,789,000 will come from the government as Revenue Support Grant and contributions from the Non-Domestic Rate pool. The sum for local taxpayers to cover will finally be £3,742,200, this allowing for a reserve balance at March 31 of £825,340. Director of Resources, David Worrall, said there had to be a minimum district council tax rise of six per cent, although the executive group recommended a level of eight per cent to allow improvements to the council's services. Alongside this the committees are to endeavour to achieve a five per cent reduction of costs during the year, and it has been stressed staff pay increases should be kept to two per cent.

This means the district council tax on an average Band D property in Caradon will increase by £8.03 to £108.42 - an eight per cent rise. This is, however, before the much heavier demand from county is added, plus the amount required for the Police Services. The county, after fierce discussions, is likely to seek a rise of just over 11 per cent on its l999/00 bills. This would see £627.61 for an average Band D property. With the district, parish/town and police totals added on this means a Band D bill, on average, for properties falling into this category in Caradon would be around £740.