On Wednesday evening I attended a meeting of Bury Council at which the new Council Tax for the year 2009/2010 was set. The new tax will be 4.99% higher than the current year after taking into account the increases for the police and fire brigade. An extra £600,000 will be included to help pay for adapting dwellings for disabled people. £30,000 has been allocated to improving the toilets at Bury market. Over 65’s will once again receive a discount of 4.79% which is the amount of the Bury Council increase. The budget for helping adults with learning and pysical disablements is being increased by over £2million pounds. No one will welcome the fact that the Council Tax has had to be increased but the fact that the Councils income from its investments and the size of the grant from central government has made this inevitable.