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Devizes Museum bill shock

8:43am Thursday 26th May 2011 in Local

Staff at Wiltshire Heritage Museum got a shock on Friday when they got a demand for £4,500 from Wiltshire Council.

The bill came out of the blue as the museum, a registered charity, has enjoyed exemption from business rates for years.

They also get £36,000 grant aid from Wiltshire Council, about a seventh of the museum’s running costs, and will now have to hand back nearly 12 per cent of that.

The demand has been backdated to April, the start of the financial year.

Doug Roseaman, museum trustee, said: “The letter said this change of policy was made last October but we knew nothing about it.

“We work to a very tight budget and it will be very hard to find this money.”

Wiltshire councillor for Devizes Stuart Wheeler said he would investigate.

Comments(6)

Granti says...
11:50am Thu 26 May 11

it's this sort of despicable behaviour that closes small museums forever. Shame on Wiltshire council!

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Cherry Chapstick says...
8:17pm Thu 26 May 11

Of course they billed them they need to find the 16million they are investing on research for faster broadband.Our council is a joke.

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who dat? says...
9:27pm Thu 26 May 11

"Wiltshire Council - where everybody matters"

Well , the salaried ones with their nice bloated pensions,perhaps!!

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Don Jones says...
11:52am Fri 27 May 11

How are the pensions 'bloated'? Is that what the Daily Mail tells you?

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freddie_W says...
2:05pm Mon 30 May 11

Don Jones wrote:
How are the pensions 'bloated'? Is that what the Daily Mail tells you?
o dear me, index linked final salary schemes are a good little number aren't they, funny you only get then when the tax payer is footing the bill.

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Don Jones says...
6:28pm Mon 30 May 11

Where to start? First, they are generally 1/80 schemes. Second, they're recognised by most as being a benefit in lieu of a slightly lower salary. And quite a few people are still on FS schemes - not as many as were, I grant you - in the private sector. And let's not forget that the local authority workers are also taxpayers themselves. I can see why FS schemes have to end but do you want them taken away from people who understood it was one of their benefits, just because you ... forget it. I guess you do.

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