Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Director of Resources

The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources, which calculated the Council Tax level for 2017/18 and made appropriate recommendations, consistent with the Budget Report 2017/18.

The report indicated that some of the figures and information set out within the report were identified as provisional as the Fire Authority precept had not been confirmed at the time of publication.  The Fire Authority had subsequently met on 20^th February 2017 and the figures within the report were now confirmed.

The report incorporated the impact of the Council's gross expenditure and the level of income it would receive through grants, fees and charges.  This resulted in a Council Tax requirement, as the amount that its expenditure exceeds all other sources of income.

The report included a calculation of the Band D Council Tax that would be needed to generate this Council Tax requirement, based on the City's approved Council Tax base.  The 2017/18 Band D Council Tax that was calculated through this process was increased by £70.68 from the 2016/17 level.

As part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement (November 2015) it was announced that councils which provided social care to adults would be allowed to increase their share of Council Tax by up to an extra 2%, provided that the additional resources were all used to fund the increasing costs of adult social care.  This additional Council Tax charge was known as the ‘Adult Social Care (ASC) precept’.  The Government indicated that authorities could include this additional 2% precept in each year of the four year period: 2016/17 to 2019/20.

Coventry City Council made use of this flexibility in 2016/17 and increased its Council Tax charge by a total of 3.9%. This was made up of a basic 1.9% increase plus a further 2% ASC precept.

In December 2016 the Government announced that Councils could opt to bring forward some, or all, of the potential 2% ASC precept available in 2019/20 to earlier years.  However the maximum increase in any one year was limited to 3%, and the total over the three year period 2017/18 to 2019/20 was limited to the original total increase of 6%.

In order to maximise the resources available to fund ASC services in the city, the recommendations within the Budget Report 2017/18 were based on a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.9%. This was made up of a basic 1.9% increase plus a further 3% ASC precept, utilising the additional flexibility described above.

It was noted that the recommendations followed the structure of resolutions drawn up by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, to ensure that legal requirements were fully adhered to in setting the tax.  As a consequence, the wording of the proposed resolutions was necessarily complex.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet recommend that Council:-

1.  Note the following Council Tax base amounts for the year 2017/18, as approved by Cabinet on 3^rd January 2017, in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government  ...  view the full minutes text for item 111