Agenda item

From the Cabinet, 5 January 2016

Further to Minute 87 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Executive Director of Resources, which established the 2016/17 Council Tax base for tax setting purposes.

The Council Tax base, being the measure of the taxable capacity of an area, for the purpose of calculating an authority's Council Tax, 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 necessary calculations were made 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 April 2013 onwards, and included the impact of the change from awarding Council Tax benefit to the introduction of a Council Tax Support Scheme (also known as the Council Tax Reduction Scheme).

On 23 June 2015 the City Council agreed a reorganisation order to establish a parish and parish council for the Finham area of the City with effect from 1st April 2016.  The reorganisation order included details of the proposed budget requirement for the first year of the new parish. As a result, this report included, for the first time, the details of the tax base for the new Finham parish, together with the grant to be paid to Finham Parish Council to compensate it for the reductions made as part of the Council Tax Support Scheme. 

Under the Support 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, Finham Parish Council and Keresley Parish Council)

Proposals would not set the actual level of Council Tax in Coventry and that would be set by Council on the 23^rd February 2016.  The determination of the tax base is one part of the process and must occur before 31st January each year.

RESOLVED that the City Council approve:

1.  That the Council Tax collection rate for 2016/17 be set at 98.3%.

2.  That, in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 2012, the amounts calculated by the City Council for 2016/17 shall be:

  a net tax base of 77,525.1 for the whole of the City Council area made up as follows:

3.  That the following grant payments should be made to parish councils to reflect the impact in 2016/17 of Council Tax reductions on their tax bases.