TWO councillors have said that Wellington Town Council has to try and refrain from putting more and more financial pressure on local people.

Cllrs Mike McGuffie and Steve Mercer made their thoughts known during the council’s full monthly meeting on Monday (December 1) where the authority’s draft budget for 2026/27 was discussed.

Councillors were presented with a very detailed report and figures demonstrating how the council will manage its coffers during the next financial year with an overall budget of £1,752,411.

Although the number-crunching has yet to be finalised before a final decision is made on the budget in January, households could be facing an increase of around £50 a year on an average Band D property bringing it up to about £263 – equivalent to around £0.98 per week – for the town council’s share of the overall Council Tax bill. It will be around a 24 per cent increase on the 2025/26 total.

The big hike has been necessary as the town council has taken financial responsibility for a raft of services from cash-strapped Somerset Council which has been well-documented over the past couple of years by the Wellington Weekly News.

Cllr McGuffie said: “I’m not criticising the staff at all, but I’m getting to the point where I’m not comfortable about asking people for more money.

“People will talk about the bottom line. If we’re charging people about £20 a month – that’s a lot of money in some people’s pockets.”

The mayor, Cllr Janet Lloyd, said: “I was giving a talk recently and when I mentioned about the Council Tax I said we’d be putting ours up by 20 per cent and nobody batted an eyelid.”

But Cllr Steve Mercer said: “You must speak to different people to me. People think that local authorities can take money from people because they can and we are raising the precept by 20 per cent because we can.

“What we’re doing is all good work, but it’s always easy to spend other people’s money and that is what we are doing.

“I don’t want to be seen as an old grump, but I really don’t want to ask people for another 20 per cent for a second year running.”

Cllr Lloyd, said: “If we didn’t take on these services then they’d be lost. We’ve made a conscious decision to take on things.”

The town council only takes a small slice of the overall Council Tax cake. The lion’s share of the 2026/27 Council Tax bill - which will start falling through people’s letterboxes in April - will be taken up by Somerset Council.

The county’s charge also includes a sum paid to Somerset Rivers Authority with an additional precept to help fund adult social care.

The Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service also receive part of the Council Tax.