Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Finance

The Cabinet considered a report of the Director of Finance which calculated the Council Tax level for 2021/22 and made appropriate recommendations to Council, consistent with the Budget Report 2021/22. 

The report indicated that some of the figures and information set out within the report were identified as provisional, as the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Fire and Rescue Authority precepts had not been confirmed at the time of publication.  The Cabinet were advised by the Director of Finance that confirmation had now been received in relation to these precepts and that the figures within the report were all confirmed as accurate.

The report incorporated the impact of the Council’s gross expenditure and the level of income it would receive through Business Rates, 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 2021/22 Band D Council Tax that was calculated through this process had increased by £83.30 from the 2020/21 level.

Each year the Government determined the maximum Council Tax increase that local authorities could set without triggering a referendum.  For 2021/22 the Secretary of State had published a report which proposed that the rise in Coventry City Council’s Council Tax must be below 5% in 2021/22 to avoid triggering a referendum, comprising a 3% precept for expenditure on adult social care and a maximum of 2% for other expenditure.  At the time of writing, the Secretary of State’s report was subject to parliamentary approval.  The recommendations within the Budget Report 2021/22 were based on a proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.9%, including a core Council Tax rise of 1.9% and a 3% Adult Social Care Precept.

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 2021/22, as approved by the Cabinet on 12^th January 2021, in accordance with Regulations made under Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (“the Act”):

(a)  82,717.1 being the amount calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for the whole Council area;

(b)  Allesley  330.0

Finham  1,513.9

Keresley  309.2

being the amounts calculated by the Council as its Council Tax base for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate.

2.  That the following amounts be now calculated by the Council for the year 2021/22 in accordance with Sections 31A, 31B and 34 to 36 of the Act:

(a)  £774,235,566  being the aggregate of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75