Narberth Town Council has increased its budget.

Members put the precept up £1,000 to £41,000 at their first meeting of 2015 on Tuesday.

It is the first hike since 2013 and only the second since 2010.

Main reason for the precept change was the Town Hall.

As the Under Croft is not operational and the income of the building remains lower than in previous years, the guaranteed annual income for the year was based on the top two floors at £5,492.13. Continued efforts would however be made to get the repairs done to the building in the hope that the basement would once again bring in income. Money was required to be set aside for this repair work to stop water ingress and with this in mind the sum of £5,000 has been put into the building maintenance fund.

One of the big savings was £4,200 made in council's contingency fund which now stands at only £800 as opposed to the previous year's £5,000, while untouched was the council's community support fund, with £8,600 being pledged to local groups and charities.

After considering the balance sheets, all members were in agreement of them being passed, with Clr. David Norcross proposing a vote of thanks to the clerk, Mrs. Caroline Coaker, for all her hard work in preparing the precept.