Councillors want to recognise it has been a difficult year for Bridport as they set the town council's budget, but need some support from residents.

Members of Bridport Town Council's finance and general purposes committee unanimously agreed to raise its portion of the council tax by 1.65 per cent, which would be an 8p weekly increase and £3.94 yearly increase for Band D households. With a £85,721 contribution from the council's general reserves, this would give a precept of £728,341.

The committee needed to agree a balanced budget and precept for the 2021/22 financial year - estimated income meets estimated expenditure. The precept - the town council's share of the council tax - is a major source of income for the town council. Other incomes can be found in the budget report here.

For the current financial year - 2020/21 - the council faces an estimated deficit of £130,000 as a result of lost income and additional expenditure due to the pandemic. A deficit of £97,531 is projected for the next financial year for the same reasons. The total is almost equivalent to the total of the council's current unallocated reserve funding, which is £236,137.

The options for the precept were:

• Option 1: introduce £97,531 from general reserves. This would result in a balanced budget, and unchanged Band D council tax and a reduced precept of £716,531

• Option 2: introduce a reduced £95,721 from general reserves so that there is no change in the precept from 2020/21. This would result in an increase of 0.25 per cent to £239.42 for Band D council tax and an unchanged precept of £718,341

• Option 3: Reduce the contribution from general reserves by a further £10,000. This would result in an increase of 1.65 per cent to £242.76 for Band D council tax and an increased precept of £728,341

• Option 4: Fund the entire budget deficit and the effect of the tax base reduction through an increase in the precept of £95,721. This would result in an increase of 13.61 per cent to £271.33 for Band D council tax and an increased precept of £814,062

Town clerk Will Austin explained it was "mind-blowingly difficult" to estimate the impact the pandemic will have on the budget and the report represents its best estimates. He also said that the budget group working group expressed concern about the economic impact of Covid on residents, which steered them towards a "standstill position" (option 1).

He added that he and Cllr Dave Rickard had met with West Dorset MP Chris Loder to discuss the lack of Government funding for town and parish councils. He advised them that he was happy to take the issue forward but if the town council was to show no increase in the council tax, this would compromise his argument for government support funding.

Cllr Sarah Williams acknowledged that although there was a lot of discussion looking at option 1, it would be "prudent" for the council to go forward with that option.

"I think we need to increase our budget and I also think option 4 is out of the question, that's too much of a raise," she said, "but option 3, 8p a week for Band D, I think most people on Band D could cope with that and on bands A to C it will be less than that, so I propose that we look at option 3."

Cllr Anne Rickard agreed and said: "We need to let the public know we have to have a little bit more money to keep us going, we're all doing our best.

"I think it's too much to go for option 4, that's just not on under the circumstances, even though we could do with it, I don't think it's fair, I'm giving my vote to 3."

Cllr Julian Jones said it was in line with inflation, which is around two per cent.

He said: "Ten thousand pounds less cut in our reserves is a significant figure to the council, whereas the small figure on each council tax payers bill is very small, and those in greatest need are exempt anyway. I think it's a straightforward choice, it's the prudent thing to do."

Cllr Rose Allwork said option 3 struck her as the most reasonable one but was concerned they were making assumptions about the future that things will recover in the next two years.

"I am willing to go with option 3, but on the basis that next year we might have to make a more difficult decision and the residents of the town are clear we are having to fill the gap with the reserves and this is done to their benefit," she said.

Cllr Karen Hunt was concerned that comments from Chris Loder steered the advice from the budget working group that "the council wanted to recognise the extent to which Bridport and the people who live there have been heavily impacted by Covid".

She said: "I take what most of you are saying, which in the end is 8p a week, which isn't very much money, but a lot of this is symbolic. A lot of this is what we're saying more generally to our community and also national government… which is almost every other organisation or body has got some central funding to deal with Covid and parish and town councils haven't.

"This is a compromise that leaves us most strongly supporting the community, but allowing us to continue to make an argument for further national funding to fill what is a very large hole in our budget."

Cllr Dave Rickard said he didn't think Chris Loder steered the decision and the committee was coming to that decision already.

"Given that there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel," he said, "I think we can take this hit and I think residents will feel we've done our bit in helping them through the year and we're doing our bit by not raising it above the level of inflation, so I am very happy to support option 3."

Cllr Maggie Ray, chairman of the finance and general purposes committee, concluded: "We will have completely exhausted nearly all our reserves by the end of next year if we do not take action, so we expect the council tax payer to give a little bit of support. We've kept this as low as we can."

Members unanimously agreed to go for option 3 and the recommendation will go to the full council meeting on Tuesday, January 19 at 7pm for all councillors to decide.

The full budget report can be found here.