Issue - meetings

Report No:   CAB/SE/15/075

Cabinet Member: Ian Houlder          Lead Officer: Joanne Howlett

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL (15 December 2015):

That:

(1)     the tax base for 2016/2017, for the whole of St Edmundsbury be 35,737.08 equivalent Band ‘D’ dwellings, as detailed in paragraph 1.4 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/075; and

(2)     the tax base for 2016/2017 for the different parts of its area, as defined by parish or special expense area boundaries, be as shown in Appendix 2 to Report No: CAB/SE/15/075.

The Cabinet considered Report No: CAB/SE/15/075, which sought approval for Council Tax Base for Tax Setting Purposes 2016/2017.

Councillor Ian Houlder, Portfolio Holder for Resources and Performance, drew relevant issues to the attention of the Cabinet including that the tax base formed the basis for the formal calculation of Council Tax for 2016/2017.

The CTB1 Tax Base Return form was attached at Appendix 1, which had been updated as at 5 November 2015 to allow for:

(a)     technical changes outlined in Report No: CAB/SE/15/074; and

(b)     potential growth in the property base during 2016/2017 taken from an average of the housing delivery numbers for those sites within the local plan and those that had planning permission, adjusted for an assumed level of discounts/exemptions within that growth of property base.

An allowance was then made for losses on collection, which assumed that overall collection rates would be maintained at approximately 98%. In addition to this collection rate change, an adjustment had been made to allow for the collectability of the Council Tax arising from the Local Council Tax Support scheme, which had been assessed at 90%. The resulting Tax Base for Council Tax collection purposes had been calculated as 35,737.08 which was an increase of 679 on the previous year.

The tax base figures provided within Appendix 2 of the report had been communicated to town and parish councils so they could start to factor these into their budget setting process.

RECOMMENDED TO COUNCIL:

That:

(1)    the tax base for 2016/2017, for the whole of St Edmundsbury be 35,737.08 equivalent Band ‘D’ dwellings, as detailed in paragraph 1.4 of Report No: CAB/SE/15/075; and

(2)    the tax base for 2016/2017 for the different parts of its area, as defined by parish or special expense area boundaries, be as shown in Appendix 2 to Report No: CAB/SE/15/075.