KEIGHLEY town councillors agreed not to increase the precept they levy on taxpayers for the 2015/16 financial year.

Following a debate at their reconvened full council meeting last night (January 29) councillors voted in favour of a budget of £593,434.

This equates to a precept of £42.69 on homes in the benchmark band D category – the same as last year. Most Keighley homes will pay less, as they fall under the cheaper A, B and C bands.

The budget was proposed by finance and audit committee chairman coun Pauline Rogan, who said: "We've had three drafts of the budget, this has not been rushed.

"We've gone through it line by line and done what is best for the council."

She successfully proposed three amendments to the third draft of the budget, including an alteration to allocate £5,000 to the council's special projects fund. This will be earmarked for maintenance to the East Morton toilets in case the council decides to take over these facilities.

Another amendment which was also passed was that the council should identify £25,000 for maintaining its civic centre building, in North Street, and a further £20,000 to cover the cost of trading from the building.

Coun Gary Pedley raised several concerns about the proposed budget. He noted that a sum of £16,000, given to the allotments and landscapes committee the previous year to provide security fences, had again been given to the same committee without any additional approval from councillors.

Commenting on civic centre spending he warned: "We have no identifiable costs for civic centre trading. We're going to vote on something by blind faith because we've been given an incomplete document. We need the full facts and figures.

"I'd like clarity on whether we can lawfully vote for a budget that has not been populated because there are headings which have been left blank.

"We're being asked for £20,000 to cover civic centre trading, but last year the cost of the catering manager alone came to £24,000."

Civic centre committee chairman coun Peter Corkindale hit back that the budget proposals were drawn up by a working group which coun Pedley had himself been a member of.

"Where has the figure of £24,000 for the catering manager come from?" he asked. "That person left in December and we've now got an interim catering manager who is not being paid anything like that amount of money."

He said the budget was needed to make the town council's civic centre a success, adding: "Every single town has a campaign to save something, but in this town the campaigns are to close our civic buildings. It beggars belief."

Keighley town mayor coun Graham Mitchell pointed out that the budget – including the costs of running the civic centre – only cost him 73 pence per week for his band C home.

In a named vote, the budget was passed with 17 councillors voting in favour, three against and one abstaining.