Issue - meetings

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (Place), that would also be considered at the meeting of the Council on 15 January 2019, that established the 2019/2020 Council Tax base for tax setting purposes.

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 also included details of recent legislative changes that allowed additional council tax premiums to be charged on long term empty properties. It included a recommendation that Council made full use of this flexibility and charged the maximum premium, on the basis that this would incentivise owners to bring empty properties back into use. 

This report did not set the actual level of Council Tax in Coventry, this would be set by the Council at their meeting on the 19th February 2019.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

(1)  Approves that the Council Tax collection rate for 2019/20 be set at 98.3%

(2)  Approves that, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) Regulations 2012, the amounts calculated by the City Council for 2019/20 shall be:

  a net tax base of 83,400.1 for the whole of the City Council area made up as follows:

(3)  Approves that the following grant payments should be made to parish councils to reflect the impact in 2019/20 of Council Tax reductions on their tax bases.

(4)  Recommends that the Council approves that, as permitted by The Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Act 2018, the Council charges the following council tax premiums on long term empty properties:

• From 1 April 2019 a council tax premium of 100 per cent will be applied to properties that have been empty and unfurnished for two years;
• From 1 April 2020 a council tax premium of 200 per cent will be applied to properties that have been empty and unfurnished for more than 5 years;
• From 1 April 2021 a council tax premium of 300 per cent will be applied to properties that have been empty and unfurnished for more than 10 years.