Dear Resident
This Thursday from 10am you can see democracy in action as I present my proposal to freeze the cost of the policing element of the council tax to the Police and Crime Panel. The meeting will be webcast and I would like to invite you to join us online for the meeting at http://webcasting.dorsetforyou.com/core/portal/home
My decision to freeze the precept has not been taken lightly. I have sought to balance the needs of our police service with the demands on residents across Dorset. The government have offered me £574,000 if I decide to freeze for this financial year. My preference, naturally, is that wherever possible, I would prefer the government to fund local policing rather than the people of Dorset having to bridge the funding gap in these difficult financial times.
A seven week public consultation has been running on the 2015/2016 precept proposals, which closed last week. Of the respondents, 29% have indicated that they support a freeze. 15% would support a 1% increase although this can be achieved by accepting the Freeze Grant at no cost to the council tax payer. The full results, which can be viewed on our website, will be presented to the Police and Crime Panel on Thursday.
I do hope you are able to join us online for this important event. If you’re a twitter user, we will also be posting updates from the Council chamber via our @PCCDorset twitter account and you can join in the conversation via the hashtag #dpcp2015
Kind regards
Martyn Underhill
Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner