An unprecedented row erupted in the chamber of Whitehill Town Council on Monday night over the rate of next year's tax increase - leading to one councillor resigning on the spot in disgust.
The drama followed a successful amendment vote, which has put the town council tax rise up by an extra two per cent - from the original recommended rise of 8.9 per cent to the new figure of 11.04 per cent for the year 2010-11.
It means that the av
erage Whitehill and Bordon resident will be paying around £6.02 extra per year.
But the real reason for the row is the split within the council over how much it should be paying to help prop up its five major grant "clients" within the town - the Citizens' Advice Bureau, The Deadwater Valley Trust, The Phoenix Arts and Theatre Centre, the Whitehill and Bordon Community Centre and the Town Partnership, who traditionally put in grant applications to the council of about £20,000 a year.
And that's what prompted the shock resignation of town Cllr David Williamson (Deadwater ward), who believes the money available for grants should be more widely spread around community organisations and not just concentrated on the five cornerstone organisations.
In his letter of resignation to the council yesterday, Cllr Williamson said: "Yet again, Whitehill town councillors have agreed by a majority vote to endorse a substantial increase in the town's precept for the coming year; this on a whim to pacify five major grant applicants.
"This is not a fair distribution."
He added: "In the current financial climate when many families are struggling to make ends meet, this will become an added burden.
"I feel very strongly that councillors should represent the whole of the electorate and not pander to organisations who I am sure could and should do more to generate more income themselves."
There has long been an internal battle within the town council to persuade Hampshire County Council and East Hampshire District Council to provide more grant aid for the town's cornerstone organisations - so far without much success.
In tabling the amendment to increase the precept by just over two per cent, town mayor Cllr Bill Wain argued successfully that if the increased precept wasn't agreed, the five cornerstone organisations could be in real danger of drifting into deep financial trouble.
"Because of the current recession, the actual amount of grant money they would have got under the original recommendation of an 8.9 per cent tax rise, would have been substantially lower in any case," he explained.
"By putting up the precept by a further two per cent, we may actually have enough grant money to ensure that they don't go under, or at least not suffer very badly financially."
The vote for Cllr Wain's amendment was carried by six votes to five, with one abstention and several councillors not present at the meeting.
But Cllr Williamson, who has been a town councillor for the past seven years, commented: "From past experience as a businessman,
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a budget is set and then one works within the confines of that budget - not the other way round.
