Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE SERVICE DIRECTOR – CUSTOMERS

To set the Council Tax Base for 2022/2023 in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 and the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012 (the Regulations)

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)        Set a non-collection rate of 1% for 2022/2023.

(2)        Set the Council Tax Base for 2022/2023 at 49,964.8

(3)       Agree the individual sums shown in Appendix A for each Parish

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To fulfil the statutory requirement to set a Council Tax Base for the District and to enable Major and Local Precepting Authorities to set their levels of Council Tax for 2022/2023.

N.B Subsequent to the meeting some errors were identified in Appendix A which refer to several of the individual parish amounts but not to the overall total. The correct figures are therefore attached and can be found here: https://srvmodgov01.north-herts.gov.uk/documents/s18503/Revised%20Appendix%20A%202022-2023.pdf

Audio Recording – 3:30

The Service Director – Customers presented the report entitled Council Tax Base 2022/2023 along with the following appendices:

·                Appendix A – Council Tax Base by Parish 2022/2023

·                Appendix B – Example of Council Tax Base calculation for Letchworth Garden City

The Service Director – Customers drew attention to points including:

·                It was a statutory requirement to set a tax base each year by the 31st of January, so that the levels of Council Tax for the coming financial year can be set at the meeting of this Committee in February, and also so that local precepting authorities can set their Council Tax

·                The tax base calculation for 22/23 is 49,964.8

·                This was an increase of 569.5 or 1.14% on the previous year; however, last year saw a decrease of 1.17% for reasons mainly connected to the pandemic.

·                The tax base calculation process is the same for all councils.

·                Appendix B of the report gave a breakdown for Letchworth as an example to show how the tax base is calculated; the number of dwellings in each band is listed and the number of exemptions and discounts is taken into account to arrive at an equivalent number of Band D properties. The process is repeated for each Town and Parish to reach an overall total for the District.

·                The report recommended a non-collection rate of 1%.

·                The District traditionally had a very high collection rate of 99% (noting that this was different to in-year collection as Council Tax is not always collected in the year in which it is owed).

·                At the time of writing the report the collection rate was slightly down compared to the same time as the previous year and there had been an increase in customers choosing to pay over 12 instalments rather than 10, which had an impact on the in-year collection rate;

·                The December collection rate position was at 81.9% against a target of 81.5%

Councillor Ian Albert proposed, Councillor Claire Strong seconded and the vote was as follows:

VOTE TOTALS:

YES:                                                                   4

ABSTAIN :                                                          0

NO:                                                                     0

TOTAL:                                                               4

NUMBER OF DELEGATES PRESENT: 4

THE INDIVIDUAL RESULTS WERE AS FOLLOWS:

Cllr Claire Strong                                                YES

Cllr Ian Albert                                                      YES

Cllr Morgan Derbyshire                                      YES

Cllr Sam North                                                    YES

Therefore it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee:

(1)        Set a non-collection rate of 1% for 2022/2023.

(2)        Set the Council Tax Base for 2022/2023 at 49,964.8

(3)       Agree the individual sums shown in Appendix A for each Parish

REASON FOR DECISIONS: To fulfil the statutory requirement to set a Council Tax Base for the District and to enable Major and Local Precepting Authorities to set their levels of Council Tax for 2022/2023.

N.B Subsequent to the meeting some errors were identified in Appendix A which refer to several of the individual parish amounts but not to the overall total. The correct figures are therefore attached and can be found here: https://srvmodgov01.north-herts.gov.uk/documents/s18503/Revised%20Appendix%20A%202022-2023.pdf