Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director, Resources.

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director, Resources, which sought approval of the 2014/15 Council Tax Base as required under the Local Authority (calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 2012.

In addition, following the localisation of Business Rates in April 2013, it was necessary for each authority to estimate the amount of business rates to be collected in the forthcoming financial year. The report recommended delegating the authority for determining this estimate to the Executive Director, Resources in consultation with the Cabinet Member (Strategic Finance and Resources).

The Council tax base was the measure of the taxable capacity of an area for the purpose of calculating an authority's Council Tax.  It represented the estimated number of Band D equivalent chargeable dwellings for the year.  It also took into account the authority's estimated Council Tax collection rate.

The report made the necessary calculations in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council tax base) Regulations 2012 to establish the Council tax base for the City Council and its parishes.  These regulations applied to financial years beginning 1^st April 2013 onwards, and included the impact of the change from awarding Council Tax benefit to the introduction of a Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Under the Reduction Scheme, the Council Tax base was reduced according to the amount of reductions awarded under the scheme, as the authority would be foregoing the relevant Council Tax income and instead would receive grant income outside of the Council Tax arrangements.  These reductions were reflected in the calculation of the Council tax base, in order to calculate the correct amount of band D Council Tax for the billing authority (Coventry City Council), the major precepting authorities (West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority), and the local precepting authorities (Allesley Parish Council and Keresley Parish Council)

It was estimated that the effect on the tax base of the Reduction Scheme would be to reduce it by 20.87%.  The financial impact of the reduction in tax base would be partially offset by a grant from central government.  The tax bases for the parishes of Allesley and Keresley would also be reduced by 20.87% as a result of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.  It was proposed that the Council transfers an element of the grant described above to offset the impact of the reduced tax base on tax income for the parish councils. It was proposed that Allesley and Keresley receive payments of £730 and £409 respectively to offset the effect of the tax base reduction.  These payments had been calculated to offset 90% of the effect of the tax base reduction, in keeping with the approach adopted nationally.  The details of the calculations were provided in appendix D to the report.

The report did not set the actual level of Council Tax in Coventry; that would be set by Council on the 25^th February 2014.  The determination of the tax base was one part of the process and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 111