Agenda item

Council Tax Setting 2022 - 2023

Meeting of Annual Budget meeting, South Somerset District Council, Monday 28th February 2022 6.30 pm (Item 127.)

Decision:

RESOLVED:

That Full Council agreed to:-

approve the formal Council Tax Resolution in Appendix A as follows:

1. At a meeting on the 7 December 2021, the Chief Financial Officer agreed the Council Tax base for 2022/23:

a. for the whole South Somerset District Council area as 60,643.62 [Item T in formula in Section 31B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended (the Act) (the tax base for the whole district)];

b. for dwellings in those parts of its area to which one or more special items relate as in the attached Appendix B (the tax base for each parish or town council area).

2. Calculate that the Council Tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2022/23 (excluding parish and town precepts and special expenses) is £11,043,810

3. That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2022/23 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

(a)	£81,137,230	being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act; (expenditure, including all precepts issued to it by parish and town councils).
(b)	£63,557,660	being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act (income, including government grants, benefits subsidy and adjustments for deficits on the Collection Fund).
(c)	£17,579,570	being the amount by which the aggregate at 3(a) above exceeds the aggregate at 3(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act; as its Council Tax requirement for the year. (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act); (expenditure less income).
(d)	£289.88	being the amount at 3(c) above (Item R), all divided by Item T (1(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year; (this is an overall average amount of Council Tax, per Band D property, for District, Somerset Rivers Authority and parish and town council requirements including special expenses).

(e)	£6,535,760	being the aggregate amount of all special items referred to in Section 34(1) of the Act (as per the attached Appendix B): (parish and town council precepts including special expenses).
(f)	£182.11	being the amount at 3(d) above less the result given by dividing the amount at 3(e) above by Item T (1(a) above), calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 34(2) of the Act, as the basic amount of its Council Tax for the year for dwellings in those parts of its area to which no parish and town precept relates (the District Council element of the tax for Band D dwellings).
(g)	Appendix B	The amount shown in Appendix B being, each parish or town in the Council’s area, the amount given by adding to the amount in 3(f) above, the result of dividing the special item relating to that part of its area by the amount of its Council Tax in those parts of its area to which the special items relate; (the COMBINED District and parish, or District and town amounts of Council Tax for Band D dwellings) (note: for completeness the table shows all areas and parish or town council precepts, if any, and how they affect the total tax)
(h)	Appendix B	the amounts shown in Appendix B being, for each parish or town in the Council’s area, the amounts given by applying to the amounts referred to at 3(f) and 3(g) above the formula and categories set out in Section 36 of the Act as the district, parish and town Council Taxes for each valuation band in each parish and town
(i)	Appendix B	for the parishes of Castle Cary, Ilchester and Wayford the amounts shown include an amount raised relating to special items in accordance with Section 35(2) (d) of the Act

4. To note that the Somerset County Council, the Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority have issued precepts to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area as indicated in the tables below.

5. That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1192, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the table below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2022/23 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings. The table excludes parish and town precepts and special expenses.

note that if the formal Council Tax Resolution at Appendix A is approved, the total Band D Council Tax is as follows:

	2021/22 £	2022/23 £	Increase %
South Somerset District Council	177.11	182.11	2.82
Somerset County Council	1,201.97	1,228.90	2.99
Somerset County Council (Adult Social Care)	151.56	165.10	2.99
Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner	241.20	251.20	4.15
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority	90.00	91.79	1.99
	1,861.84	1,919.10	3.08
Town and Parish Council (average)	100.16	101.77	7.60
	1,962.00	2,026.87	3.31

Reason:

To approve the Council’s calculation and setting of the Council Tax for 2022/23.

(The following Councillors voted in favour: Jason Baker, Robin Bastable, Mike Best, Dave Bulmer, Hayward Burt, Tony Capozzoli, Martin Carnell, John Clark, Nicola Clark, Adam Dance, Sarah Dyke, Karl Gill, Peter Gubbins, Brian Hamilton, Mike Hewitson, Henry Hobhouse, Ben Hodgson, Kaysar Hussein, Val Keitch, Tim Kerley, Michael Lewis, Tony Lock, Paul Maxwell, Kevin Messenger, Graham Oakes, Sue Osborne, Oliver Patrick, Crispin Raikes, Wes Read, David Recardo, Gina Seaton, Peter Seib, Garry Shortland, Andy Soughton, Mike Stanton, Rob Stickland, Lucy Trimnell, Gerard Tucker and Colin Winder)

(The following Councillor abstained: Andy Kendall – not in the room at the time the report was presented)

Minutes:

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Legal Services said the report was to agree the formal tax resolution and note that the total Band D council tax increase was 3.31% including the town and parish council precepts and overall represented a 3.08% increase. He proposed the recommendations.

Councillor Adam Dance thanked the Portfolio Holder and the finance team for the low increase in council tax without any cuts to Council services.

The recommendations were proposed and seconded and a named vote was taken. The recommendations were confirmed by 39 in votes favour, 0 against and 1 abstention.