ST HELIER parishioners last night welcomed a 1.85p rate that will cut the parish’s £173,000 deficit in half.

The Constable, Simon Crowcroft, proposed a rate that will bring £9 million into the parish coffers and which will see 12 per cent of parishioners facing a lower rates bill.

The assembled crowd at the Town Hall voted by 82 votes to 26 to support the proposed rate, and in contrast to the ugly scenes of two years ago, when the parish was plunged into the red by a ‘rates rebellion’, they were broadly supportive of the cost-cutting exercises that have gone on in St Helier.

This morning Mr Crowcroft said: ‘The presentation we made was quite realistic about where we felt expenditure needed to be increased, particularly in terms of workers at the sharp end.

‘The agreed rate still leaves us with something to do.’ Mr Crowcroft’s term of office expires at the end of the year, and he has not decided if he will stand again.