The average taxpayer in Swindon looks set to be asked for more than £2,000 next year for the services they receive from the borough council, police and fire services.

That will be the first time the council tax precept set by the three main organisations will break the £2,000 barrier, and with the likely increases in the average size of parish councils in the borough added, the average council tax bill next year in Swindon will be between £2141 and £2154.

Members of the council's cabinet will be asked to approve an increase of 4.99 per cent in the precept the authority charges – 2.99 per cent will be used for general spending and two per cent of the increase will be ringfenced specifically to fund adult social care.

That will bring the Band D precept for the next financial year, which starts on April 1, to £2,015 - of that total £356 would be ringfenced for adult social care, although with that area of operations being the largest single cost in the council’s budget, much more will actually be spent on social care.

The recommendation to cabinet by the member for finance Councillor Kevin Small says the increase is “in line with government expectations”.

If cabinet agrees to increase, the proposal will be put to all councillors on Thursday, February 22.

This coming Thursday members of both the Wiltshire & Dorset Fire Authority and the Wiltshire Police & Crime Panel will be asked to approve the new precepts for the fire and police services respectively.

The Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson has proposed a £13 increase in what a Band D property pays - representing a 5.1 per cent increase.

He said: “This increase will assist in the long-term funding of Wiltshire Police as it will impact the base for which all future precepts start from.

"I am campaigning for fairer funding for Wiltshire. To not increase the precept when the government has specifically given me the option to do this would be a missed opportunity.”

The increase takes the police force’s precept to £86.85.

The fire brigade’s increase of £2.52 is equivalent to 2.9 per cent and brings its share of the council tax paid to £86.95.

The total of the three elements comes to £2,015.

In Swindon the average precept added by a parish council is £132.70 - a three per cent increase will take that to £136 while a five per cent increase will put it up to £139.

Totalled up the entire bill is likely to be between £2,141 and £2,154.