26 February 2009, 09/40
Council Tax rise pegged to 2%
West Lancashire District Council has announced a Council Tax
rise of just 2%, which is well below the expected national average
Council tax increase of 3.5%.
In 2009/10 West Lancs residents on the average Band D Council
Tax rate will pay just £3.60 more for local council services than
in 2008/09 - a rise of just 7p a week and one of the lowest
increases in Lancashire.
The Council has succeeded in keeping the Council Tax increase to
a minimum through a combination of efficiency savings, modest
increases in charges, and use of reserves.
Cllr David Westley, portfolio holder for finance, said, "Local
residents have made it clear that they don’t want big increases in
their Council Tax bills or cuts in priority front line services. So
we have taken a prudent approach to give people real value for
money - a budget that keeps services at their current levels with a
very modest increase in Council Tax. The 2% rise is expected to be
significantly less than the national average rise.
"The Council is facing a difficult financial position due to a
combination of factors including rising costs and reductions in
income, partly due to the current economic recession. Also, we
received a very small increase in government grant of just 0.5%,
well below the current rate of inflation and much lower than grants
received by many other councils e.g. Lancashire County Council, who
received a 5.69% increase. We’ve taken some difficult decisions in
order to maintain front-line services and minimise the effect on
Council Tax payers."
The Council faces a budget gap of £1.8 million - that is the
difference between the amount it needs to spend in 2009/10 to
maintain services at current levels, and its available resources.
The following measures are being taken to bridge the gap:
a) Increasing council tax by 2% to generate around £135,000
b) Taking £680,000 from the Budget and Efficiency Savings
reserve
c) Generating £200,000 savings through a new
programme of budgetary and efficiency initiatives for 2008/09 to
2011/12 that includes downsizing, organisational re-engineering and
the investigation of shared services. This programme is expected to
produce even greater savings in future years.
d) £780,000 from a range of budget savings and increases in
income which includes:
- Efficiency savings in service
provision, savings on contracts, other savings through the
non-filling of vacant posts, plus some increased income from
partners on shared initiatives
- Increasing pest control charges
by 5%, i.e. the charge for treatment for wasps or rats will rise
from £32.00 to £33.60 plus VAT to bring in an additional £2,500.
Note: the Council is retaining the 50% discount for mice and rat
treatments for people on benefits
- Increasing certain charges on the
Ormskirk pay and display car parks to generate an extra £85,000.
This is the first increase for 7 years and means the cost of
parking will rise by up to 10p an hour (although in many cases the
charges will remain frozen or increase by less than this
amount)
- A rise in the charge for bulky
collections of 50p (i.e. a 4% increase from £12.50 to £13.00) to
bring in an extra £2,000
- Increasing licensing fees in
general by 5% to generate an extra £6,000 although this does not
cover all licensing charges as some are statutorily governed
- Saving £38,700 through a new
approach for providing grants to voluntary sector organisations
providing children’s play activities.
- Replacing production of the
newsletter for residents, westlancslife, with more cost effective
web-based approaches from April 09, saving £18,000 a year.
Cllr Westley added: "In putting this package
together our priority was to maintain front-line services and
minimise the effect on council tax payers. We had frozen car
parking charges for the last 7 years and the rate of inflation
since we last increased our car park charges was 21.2%. It is with
some reluctance that we are now imposing an increase of up to 10p
an hour. Similarly, we are increasing charges for pest control,
bulky item collection and licensing by around 5%.
"In order to help balance the budget we are taking money from
reserves. The Council has been very well managed financially in
recent years and has built up reserves that are now available to
help us in these difficult times. But of course reserves can only
be spent once. We know we will be facing financial difficulties in
the years ahead and so we are adopting a new policy on reserve
management, in addition to the three-year programme of budgetary
and efficiency initiatives, to give the Council longer-term
financial stability in balancing its budget."
Value for money
Only around 12% of the Council Tax bills paid by residents comes
to West Lancs District Council. This is because the District
Council collects Council Tax on behalf of Lancashire County
Council, the Police Authority, Fire Authority and Parish Councils
as well as for itself. West Lancs District Council has no control
over the amount of Council Tax charged by the other
authorities.
The Council Tax paid to West Lancs District Council helps pay
for local services including:
- Approximately 68p a week for collecting your
household waste and recycling materials
- 34p a week to keep the streets clean
- 67p a week to provide sports pitches and
sports centres, arts and culture including Chapel Gallery
- 10p a week for community safety including
CCTV
(NOTE - These are 2008/09 figures for a Band D
property)
Council Tax figures
The total Council tax paid to West Lancs District Council for
the average Band D property in 2009/10 will be £183.55, while the
total Band D Council tax bill will be £1,496.34.
BAND D COUNCIL TAX LEVELS
| |
2009-10 |
2008-09 |
Change |
| West Lancashire District Council |
183.55 |
179.95
|
2.00%
|
| Lancashire County Council |
1,108.30
|
1,077.06
|
2.90%
|
|
Lancashire Combined Fire Authority
|
62.41
|
60.16 |
3.74%
|
| Lancashire Police Authority |
142.08 |
135.96
|
4.50% |
| Total |
1,496.34 |
1,453.13
|
2.97% |
(NOTE - In addition to the figures shown above Parish
Councils will charge small amounts of Council tax in parished
areas.)
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