Helston Town Council is set to ask residents to pay an extra 12 per cent on their council tax as it prepares to take control of a range of essential services including public toilets and CCTV.

The council has looked to keep the impact on the taxpayer as low as possible, despite the need to take over much of the work previously carried out by Cornwall Council.

It means that although the council is likely to be forced to ask for an additional £34,040 on its precept – the portion of the tax the town receives from Cornwall Council – the effect will be just 17p a week extra for residents of a Band D property, or an £8.74 increase for the whole year.

For this, residents and visitors will be able to continue using Helston’s three public toilets, which came under threat of closure in 2012 when Cornwall Council announced it would keep only one facility open.

The town came to an agreement that saw it also take on one public convenience, meaning the Guildhall and Grylls Monument facilities stayed open,. Last year, the town council also re-opened the disabled toilet facility in Trengrouse Way.

However, a £9,280 grant previously received from the unitary authority will no longer be made, so Helston town council must fork out the shortfall to keep all three public conveniences open.

In public safety, Helston is joining forces with seven other towns in the area to provide a new, digital CCTV system with monitoring and the option to further upgrade the service.

It is after Cornwall Council revealed that from April this year it was no longer funding the maintenance of cameras, which act as an important deterrent to criminals and often provide key evidence in a police investigation. It had withdrawn funding for monitoring five years ago.

The money set aside to fund this has actually been reduced by £17,180, after costings on the service were carried out. This has helped keep the overall tax rise down.

Other services Helston will now have to take on include weed-spraying. A budget of £4,200 is being proposed to spray the non town centre areas twice a year in a bid to maintain the overall look of the town.

A further £10,000 is being set aside in anticipation of more services or assets having to be taken over from Cornwall Council.

A one-off sum of £6,400 is included to buy on-street electrical sockets, which can be used for street markets and also on Flora Day when residents complain about fumes from van generators, and an estimate of £500 is also added to maintain the new First World War memorial garden created next to the Trengrouse Way toilets.

To maintain the Guildhall, the council proposes an increase of £5,000 to the budget, with another £660 for regular clearing of roof gullies.

Additional new budgets include £2,500 for the council elections in 2017 and £1,000 to fund insignia for freemen of the borough and ceremonies. Insurance for play areas and public toilets is increasing by £2,500.

This all represents a proposed precept of £303,690 for the 2015/2016 financial year, compared to the £269,650 the council currently receives.

The amount is set to be officially signed off by the full council when it meets tomorrow (Thursday), so still has the potential to change.

However, this is the recommendation from the council’s policy, finance and resources committee, which has met twice already to consider its draft budget.