THE council tax paid to Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service by householders from Wiltshire and Dorset will go up by 2.99 per cent – a £2.17 increase for a Band D payer.

But councillors on the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Authority, which exerts political control over the fire service, were not happy that they were not able to ask for an increase of £5 for Band D payers and the equivalent percentage rise for other bands.

They were so disappointed that they have been restricted by law to a 2.99 per cent increase that they have amended the report on the fire service’s budget to say so.

Now, the very first sentence of the budget will say: “This authority regrets the inability to apply a £5 de minimis precept.”

Chairman of the committee Dorset councillor Spencer Flower said: “I lobbied the government to be allowed to set a £5 precept, but one of the difficulties is that fire services’ voices are not heard loudly enough.

“If this authority wishes I shall continue to lobby to be able to set a higher precept as this has a significant impact on public safety.”

The 2.99 per cent increase will net the fire service £41.2 million over the next financial year, and with government grants the total budget adds up to £55.845million.

The service’s chief financial officer Phil Chow explained that he had been able to balance the books for this year – but that there may be problems coming down the line.

He said: “We have been notified by government that the employer contributions to the firefighters’ pension fund will be increasing significantly from this year.

“The government has agreed to cover 90 per cent of the next year’s additional costs with a £2.3m grant – but we do not know what funding there will be beyond 2019-20.”

Even if such funding is available, the low precept rises that Mr Chow expects the authority to be able to set to store up some financial trouble for the fire service.

If increases in the council tax precept are capped at 1.99 per cent annually, the fire service will find itself short of £942,000 in its everyday running costs budget in 20-21, rising to a £2.2m gap by 2022-23.

Things get even worse without the funding for pensions from Whitehall – a £3.374m deficit in the revenue budget in 2020-21 grows to a £4.6m shortfall just two years later.