CORNWALL COUNCIL APPROVES £40M BUDGET CUT

First Published By BBC

The Council is planning to cut a total of £170m over four years

Cornwall artists fight 'disastrous plans' to cut library hours

Cornwall councillors have approved £40m of cuts for the coming year and frozen Council Tax. The majority of members on the Conservative-Independent controlled council voted to accept a one-off grant from the government to Council Tax freeze the tax.

The budget, set at £451.7m for 2012/2013, is the second year of a four year plan to save £170m. The Cornwall Council element of Council Tax for a Band D property will remain at £1,244.

Recommendations include £700,000 to fund a Cornish Bursary to help young people stay on at college or university.

Bus fears:

The council has also earmarked £62m to build 4,125 new homes within the next four years, 3,000 of which will be affordable homes to rent. The unitary authority also plans to bring 520 empty homes back into use, improve 700 existing homes, and adapt 2,200 homes to make them safe for older and disabled people.

Adult care and support has also received an extra £7m.

Leader Alec Robertson said: "It is not being done by cutting services; it is being done by doing things differently such as delivering services in different ways, using arms length organisations.

"We are procuring more smartly and buying more for less. "It is about how you do business, not what you do." Jeremy Rowe, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, said details of the cuts had not been finalised, but he feared cuts to rural bus routes. He said: "We are being told to take a lot on trust.

"I suspect that the cabinet themselves do not know the detail in a lot of cases. "But I think by and large the officers of the council have put together a pretty good budget."

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

Are you paying too much Council Tax- check here?

BARROW BOROUGH COUNCIL TAX HIKE ROW ERUPTS

First Published by: North West Evening Mail

A GOVERNMENT minister has blasted local politicians for increasing Council Tax in Barrow.

Members of Barrow Borough Council voted on Tuesday to increase Council Tax from April by 3.49 per cent.

The administration said it needs to respond to government cuts on a long term basis, and the Council Tax freeze could not be guaranteed throughout the three year period, so tax has to be raised gradually to protect town hall services and keep job cuts to a minimum.

But over 300 authorities in England (around 80 per cent) have chosen to accept the Council Tax freeze. The move to increase Council Tax has been condemned by local government minister Bob Neill.

Mr Neill said: “Every local resident will be dismayed by Barrow Borough Council’s decision to dodge a referendum by raising Council Tax next year to a hair’s breadth below the level that would give taxpayers a democratic vote.

“Turning down our £108,789 grant which allows Barrow-in-Furness to freeze Council Tax is enough of a kick in the teeth at a time when residents deserve a cost of living break. It’s a cynical move that is simply treating the local electorate with contempt. The council can expect voters to show their displeasure at the ballot box.”

At Tuesday’s meeting Barrow Borough Council leader, Councillor Dave Pidduck said his group had chosen to reject the Council Tax freeze as they are preparing a long term strategy. He said: “We asked the officers of this council to prepare all the figures for us so we could weigh up what accepting the Council Tax freeze would mean.

“We asked what would it mean for the people of this borough and the council. They produced a set of neutral figures and then we took the decision.” All six Conservative members of the council voted against taking the freeze, and accused Labour of going against their pre-election promises.

Councillor Ray Guselli said: “We simply must stop spending other people’s money and reduce local taxes. “This Labour council has even denied the public a proper say, by increasing Council Tax a ridiculous one hundredth of a per cent below the amount which triggers a referendum. “Perhaps they don’t want to hear what people say.”

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Brendan Sweeney said the decision had been a tough one but was a result of the tough government cuts. He said: “It is not a fair choice. The problem we have got is that the government cutbacks are so big.

“We are losing £12m, although have been given a transition grant of £4m but we have to spread this right through to 2015/16 because by then our government funding will be almost halved. “We are always conscious this is public money, but it is the public’s services that we have to provide and protect.” Leader of the opposition, Councillor Jack Richardson, said the refusal to take the grant proves the council is out of touch.

He said: “The national perspective is that we are out of sync. “Over 80 per cent of authorities are taking the grant. “They (Labour) had made their minds up that they were going to put up the rates and increase charges. 

The increased charges means they will bring in an extra £448,000 which is equivalent to a 10 per cent increase in the rates.”

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

Are you paying too much Council Tax- check here?

COUNCIL TAX FREEZE SPLITS TORIES

First Published by: BBC

Council Tax freeze splits Tories

The government's drive for a Council Tax freeze has brought tensions with council leaders to the surface.

Tory council leaders have long been privately voicing their exasperation and that's putting it politely - with Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles and his handy hints and tips as to how they should be doing their jobs.

This centres on what they would see as his overly optimistic view of their ability to maintain essential public services in the face of dwindling finances.

The government's drive for a country-wide Council Tax freeze next year has brought these tensions to the surface. Mr Pickles is offering councils a one-off payment - equivalent to a 2.5% rise in their Council Tax - if they agree to a freeze for the coming financial year.

Ministers, of course, have no power to enforce a freeze. Indeed there are few things they like talking about more than all the decision-making powers they are returning to local communities.

Balancing act. 

At the same time Mr Pickles - and his lieutenant Local Government Minister Bob Neill - are making it quite clear that in their opinion councils have a "moral duty" to take the money and freeze the Council Tax. Not to do so, they say, would be a "kick in the teeth for Council Taxpayers" and to "treat the local electorate with contempt".

So it's not a great time to be leading a Conservative council which takes the view that it can't balance the books without putting up Council Tax. South Hams District Council leader John Tucker is one of many council chiefs facing new challenges

Most Tory councils are toeing the line. But authorities like Surrey County Council and South Hams District Council in Devon are kicking back. Surrey is implementing a 2.99% increase. So councillors there clearly don't feel the government's 2.5 will even cover this year - let alone the longer term.

South Hams is putting Council Tax up by just 2.5%. On the face of it, this is more puzzling: wouldn't it be cleverer to accept the government's generous offer, give your electors a little Council Tax holiday and then put up Council Tax the following year if you really felt you had to?

It's not that simple, though, for councils like South Hams or Surrey.

They clearly see Council Tax as something which - like hot air - has an inexorable tendency to rise.

Accordingly, their financial planning is obviously based on at least a vague presumption of cumulative increases in the years to come. South Hams' 2.5% increase will roll over automatically into the council's base funding in the following year and the years after that.

Taking Uncle Eric's short term shilling would have thrown things into disarray because the money simply wouldn't be there to roll over into the next year.

A council could, in theory, simply whack up the Council Tax the following year to fill the hole. This, though, would present a major headache in practice. Maintaining the funding level provided by the expired government grant would mean a 2.5% Council Tax rise just for starters.

Throw in the additional rise calculated for that year itself (let's say another 2.5% or so for the sake of argument) and the council would be in real trouble.

Demanding an increase of 5% or more from taxpayers at one fell swoop would have run the risk of capping under Labour. Now, councils face an even more formidable obstacle: any increase above 3.5% would have to be subject to a local referendum. And the government has made it clear that threshold could change in future.

Eric Pickles reportedly told the Local Government Association's finance conference that refusing the Council Tax freeze money because it would not be part of the base funding in future years was a "ludicrous argument". Not because the proposition is untrue, but because the "whole idea" of the freeze is to get councils' financial bases down.

That would seem to leave those Tory councils with their hearts set on year on year tax increases in direct ideological conflict with their colleagues at Westminster. That's one of the points I put to South Hams District Council leader John Tucker this week in the film below.

We also touched on a general feature of the government's much-trumpeted localism agenda.

On the one hand, ministers going out of their way to bang on about local authorities having the freedom to make the judgements they see fit.

But, on the other, making it emphatically clear what they think those decisions should be and publicly excoriating those councils who dare to use their freedom to disagree. 

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

Are you paying too much Council Tax- check here?

TWIN COUNCILS TAKE DIFFERENT VIEWS

First Published by: BBC

Twin Suffolk district councils Babergh and Mid Suffolk took CouncilTax decisions yesterday which set them on different tracks.

Councillor Jennie Jenkins said:
Babergh had given assurances to keep front-line services 

Babergh decided to increase its Council Tax by 3.5% while Mid Suffolk chose to freeze its demands after a lively debate. Babergh has no overall political control and Mid Suffolk has a Conservative majority.

Last year a referendum on a full merger of the councils was lost (a majority of Babergh voters were against). But the integration (we have had joint refuse collections for some time) of services and administration goes ahead.

So both councils had similar advice on which to base their decisions. After a strong debate, Mid Suffolk decided to take community secretary Eric Pickles’s shilling. The government has offered a one off grant, equivalent to a 2.5 per cent tax rise, this year to councils that freeze their demands. That means that a 3.5 increase results in a 1 per cent rise in spending power.

And any rise of more than 3.5 percent would trigger a costly referendum.

A report from the joint management board to the Executive Committee of Mid Suffolk in January suggested that accepting the Government’s offer could result could higher rises in the future. Like all local government finance it is a complicated issue, but that report puts the issues as clearly as as I have seen anywhere. Here is the relevant section (full report):

Earlier in the year, the Government announced its intention to offer local authorities a grant to enable Council Tax to be frozen again in 2012/13. The grant will again be equivalent to a 2.5% increase in Council Tax but will only be a one-off (whereas the 2011/12 grant is for 4 years).

Unlike 2011/12, not all councils are likely to take the grant due to the ‘knock on’ financial implications in future years of only receiving a one-off grant. Although the main options appear to be to either take the grant or increase Council Tax by 2.5% (or slightly more), it is important to understand the impacts in future years of different percentage increases in 2012/13. 

A further announcement has been made that any Council Tax increase of more than 3.5% will be subject to a local referendum. A 2.5% increase equates to £3.78 a year for a Band D property (3.5% = £5.29). If the one-off Government funding is accepted, that will have the same overall impact on the 2012/13 budget as a 2.5% Council Tax increase.

The reasons for having a Council Tax increase in 2012/13 and not accepting the Government’s grant of £136,000 are as follows: As the Government grant is a one-off, that amount would then have to be added to the savings that are required in 2013/14

A 2.5% increase in Council Tax just to stand still in 2013/14 would then be needed A 5% Council Tax increase would be needed in 2013/14 or subsequent years to ‘catch up’, but this would be subject to a local referendum, which would be costly.

Not increasing the Council Tax by 2.5% in 2012/13 would mean that there is a lower tax base for future years and the £136,000 is lost each and every year in the future – unless that can be recouped through higher than normal increases in subsequent years, either as indicated above or by gradual year-on-year phased increases e.g. of around 0.8% a year over 3 years.

Suffolk County Council and Suffolk Coastal District Council have also decided to freeze their taxes. But every Council Tax payer in the county faces increases because the police authority precept is increasing by 3.75 per cent and many town and parish councils are pushing up their shares (average rises of nearly 4 per cent in Mid Suffolk).

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

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Q&A: COUNCIL TAX

First Published By: BBC

Council Tax bands in England will not be revalued during the current Parliament, the government has announced.

Here we take a closer look at the tax, and how it is determined which band a house falls into.

What is Council Tax?

Council Tax is a local property tax in England, Scotland and Wales. It is levied by local authorities to top up government funding for the services they provide. Northern Ireland has a different local tax called rates.

How much a household has to pay in Council Tax - relative to other people in their local area - is firstly determined by the value of the property, and therefore where it sits in a series of valuation bands.

Council Tax was introduced in 1993, based on valuations carried out in 1991. In England and Scotland homes have not been revalued since then, although revised valuations were introduced in Wales in 2005.

How many Council Tax bands are there?

In England there are eight property price Council Tax bands, ranging from A to H, still based on the value of a property back in April 1991.

The Council Tax bands and their price ranges are as follows: A (up to £40,000), B (over £40,000 and up to £52,000), C (over £52,000 and up to £68,000), D (over £68,000 and up to £88,000), E (over £88,000 and up to £120,000), F (over £120,000 and up to £160,000), G (over £160,000 and up to £320,000), and H (over £320,000).

The system works so that those in the top band pay three times as much Council Tax as those in the bottom. The "middle" Band D - normally quoted as the average band - pays one and a half times Band A.

The cost levels for the Council Tax bands in Wales and Scotland are different to those in England.

Who carries out the valuations?

Valuations are calculated by inspectors from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which is part of HM Revenue & Customs. VOA officials have faced criticism in the past for being intrusive.

This has been touched upon by Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, who has announced an independent review of the inspectors, saying he would "rein in intrusive snooping".

What does Council Tax pay for?

Local services such as planning, transport, highways, police, fire, libraries, leisure and recreation, rubbish collection and disposal, environmental health and trading standards.

It does not pay for health services.

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

Are you paying too much Council Tax- check here?

MORE COUNCIL TAX BANDS TO MAKE THE RICH A BAND ON THE RUN

First Published BY: People.co.uk

There are several fair tax systems available off-the-peg but Britain has yet to try on even one of them.

The richer you are the less tax you proportionately have to pay. All you need is the means to afford a crafty accountant.  

Then find a warm tax haven and pile all your money into it. Or you can whack your salary into a private company like student loans chief Ed Lester did.

That way you only have to pay corporation tax at 21 per cent rather than income tax at 50 per cent. In the meantime, we poor people on PAYE have to cough up the lion's share of the £146 billion the tax-man takes each year.

Council Tax isn't much fairer. So the hard-working labourer can pay the same as a landowner.

One has built his family a comfortable home out of his own pile of bricks while the other owns a stately pile. By contrast New York has a system of local income tax. So if you live there you pay federal tax similar to our income tax, state tax, and a city tax to fund local services.

Chancellor George Osborne now wants to ditch the 50p higher rate because with tax dodges it raises less than if he got people to pay up at 40 per cent. But he will have to find another way to make the rich pay their share. So he is studying a plan drawn up by influential Tory thinker Tim Montgomerie.

Tim reckons the tax system should fall more heavily on wealth than income so he is suggesting adding more bands to Council Tax. Under the present system all properties valued at more than £320,000 in England by 1991 prices pay Band H rate averaging £2,536.

Tim wants to add a Band I for homes worth more than £500,000, Band J for those topping £1 million and a K - which must stand for kibosh because that's what the band would do to those living in pads worth £2 million or more.

This would go some way to placate Coalition partner Vince Cable who is still wired up over the Lib Dem's plan for a mansion tax. And with 50,000 properties worth more than £2 million analysts reckon the scheme could raise £1.7 billion a year.

That should make the rich a band on the run.

READ WHAT: ERIC PICKLES ‘SECRETARY OF STATE’ SAYS ABOUT OVER-CHARGED COUNCIL TAX.

Are you paying too much Council Tax- check here?