Council Report |
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Report of Head of Finance Author: Simon Hewings E-mail: simon.hewings@southandvale.gov.uk Wards affected: All |
REPORT NO
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Cabinet member responsible: Andrew Crawford Tel: 01235 772134 E-mail: andy.crawford@whitehorsedc.gov.uk DATE: 16 February 2022 |
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1. The parish councils informed us of their 2022/23 precept requirements by 11 February 2022. Oxfordshire County Council set its council tax for 2022/23 on 8 February 2022 and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley (PCCTV) set his council tax requirement on 28 January 2022. This council finalised its revenue budget at its meeting of 16 February 2022. Following these decisions, the council has to calculate and set the council tax to include the County Council and the PCCTV as well as the district and parish taxes.
2. The council tax for 2022/23 is the result of calculations in accordance with the legislation and regulations which have been issued. The recommendations above are phrased to comply with the statutory requirements which may make them difficult to comprehend. The sequence of calculations leading to the council tax is therefore set out in detail in this report.
3. A summary of the calculation of the council tax is given in paragraph 28 (table 7). The district council’s element of the band D council tax for 2022/23 will be £146.69,which is an increase of £5 from 2021/22.
4. Setting the council tax in accordance with the prescribed timetable supports the council in delivering its corporate objectives.
5. At its meeting on 8 December 2021 the council agreed the calculation of the tax base for its area and for each parish within the district. These figures are set out in column 1 of appendix 1. (recommendation (1).
6. The tax base for the district has been calculated to be 55,362.8 which means that for each £1 increase of council tax a sum of £55,362.80 is expected to be raised. Whilst a band D property taxpayer would pay the extra £1, taxpayers in other bands would pay less (bands A to C) or more (bands E to H).
7. At its meeting on 16 February 2022 the council set its own council tax requirement at £8,121,169. (recommendation (2)).
8. In order to comply with the legislation, district council expenditure and income met from or credited to all accounts, together with parish precepts, must be added. The resulting figures for gross expenditure and gross income are shown in table 1 below.
Table 1: Gross expenditure and gross income
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2022/23 |
£ |
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Gross expenditure |
74,301,774 |
Gross income |
61,492,993 |
9. The council is asked to approve these calculations. (recommendations (3)(a) and (3)(b))
10. The council tax requirement of the district council is therefore £12,808,781, as detailed in table 2 below.
Table 2: District council tax requirement
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2022/23 |
|
£ |
District council element |
8,121,169 |
Parish council element |
4,687,612 |
Council tax requirement |
12,808,781 |
11. The council is asked to approve this calculation.(recommendation (3)(c).
12. The next step is to calculate the basic amount of council tax for the district. This is an average which includes both district and parish expenditure and is for a band D property. The calculation is shown in table 3 below.
Table 3: Calculation of basic amount of council tax
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2022/23 |
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£ |
Council tax requirement (inc. parishes) |
12,808,781 |
Divided by tax base |
55,362.80 |
The basic amount of council tax for 2022/23 is £231.36 (2021/22 was £224.34). This is an increase of 3.13 per cent from 2021/22. (recommendation (3)(d).
13. Having previously resolved that all the expenses of the district council are to be treated as general expenses and therefore met by all taxpayers the only special items are parish precepts.
14. The parish precepts are set out in column 2 of appendix 1 and total £4,687,612 (2021/22 was £4,456,486). The increase of £231,126 from 2021/22 is 5.19 per cent. (recommendation (3)(e).
15. The parish precepts total £4,689,567 and the average tax for parish purposes is £84.67 (2021/22 was £82.65). The basic amount of tax applying where the parish precept is nil is £146.69 (2021/22 was £141.69). This is the council’s council tax requirement. (recommendation (3)(f)
16. S52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 sets out the duty on authorities to determine whether their basic amount of council tax for a financial year is excessive. Guidance from Communities and Local Government is that any increase of more than the higher of two per cent or £5 in the basic amount of council tax would generate the requirement under S52ZB to hold a referendum. For 2022/23 the council is proposing to increase its basic amount of council tax by £5. (recommendation 7).
17. Where there is a parish precept this is divided by the tax base for that parish and the result is added to the basic amount applying where there is no parish precept. This ensures that each parish precept is met only by taxpayers in that parish area.
18. The schedule of amounts for each parish is given in column 6 of appendix 1.
19. The basic amount for each parish is then scaled up or down to give the tax applying to each property band. The factors laid down in the legislation are shown in table 4 below.
Table 4: Council tax property bands
Property band
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Factor
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Band A |
6/9 |
Band B |
7/9 |
Band C |
8/9 |
Band D |
9/9 |
Band E |
11/9 |
Band F |
13/9 |
Band G |
15/9 |
Band H |
18/9 |
20. Applying these factors gives the council tax covering district and parish expenditure for each property band. These are given, parish by parish, in columns 3 to 10 of appendix 2.
21. At its meeting on 8 February 2022 the County Council set its council tax as shown in table 5 below.
Table 5: Council tax for Oxfordshire County Council 2022/23
Property band |
2022/23 |
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Council Tax £ |
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Band A |
£1,101.07 |
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Band B |
£1,284.59 |
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Band C |
£1,468.10 |
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Band D |
£1,651.61 |
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Band E |
£2,018.63 |
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Band F |
£2,385.66 |
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Band G |
£2,752.68 |
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Band H |
£3,303.22 |
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22. The council is asked to note these figures. The amount of money payable to the County Council by way of a precept in 2022/23 is £91,437,754 (2021/22 was £84,820,675). (recommendation (4))
23. We were notified by the PCC for Thames Valley on 29 January 2022 that his council tax will be as set out in table 6 below.
Table 6: Council tax for PCC for Thames Valley 2022/23
Property band |
2022/23 |
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Council Tax £ |
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Band A |
£160.85 |
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Band B |
£187.66 |
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Band C |
£214.47 |
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Band D |
£241.28 |
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Band E |
£294.90 |
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Band F |
£348.52 |
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Band G |
£402.13 |
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Band H |
£482.56 |
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24. The council is asked to note these figures. The amount of money payable to the PCCTV by way of a precept in 2022/23 is £13,357,936 (2021/22 was £12,470,409). (recommendation (5))
25. The county council’s council tax, together with the PCC for Thames Valley, and district and parish council tax figures, are shown in appendix 3. The amounts are the aggregate council tax payable in 2022/23 for each band of property in each parish, assuming no discounts or exemptions apply. (recommendation (6))
26. The Local Government Finance Act 1992 requires the council to set the council tax by 11 March preceding the start of the financial year. The Act sets out the calculations that must be made and this report is structured to meet those requirements.
27. These are dealt with in the body of the report.
28. In summary the council tax calculation is as shown in table 7 below.
Table 7: summary council tax calculation 2022/23
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2022/23 |
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Amount |
Band D |
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council |
tax |
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£ |
£ |
Oxfordshire County Council |
91,437,754 |
1,651.61 |
PCC for Thames Valley |
13,357,936 |
241.28 |
Vale of White Horse District Council |
8,121,169 |
146.69 |
Parish council |
4,687,612 |
84.67 |
Total council tax (average) |
117,604,471 |
2,124.25 |
29. The percentage increases in council tax are shown in table 8 below.
Table 8: Percentage increases in council tax 2022/23
|
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
Increase/ (decrease) |
£ |
£ |
% |
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Oxfordshire County Council |
1,573.11 |
1,651.61 |
4.99 |
PCC for Thames Valley |
231.28 |
241.28 |
4.32 |
Vale of White Horse District Council |
141.69 |
146.69 |
3.53 |
Parish council |
82.65 |
84.71 |
2.44 |
Overall (average) |
2,028.73 |
2,124.25 |
4.71 |
Appendices:
1. 2022/23 parish and district council tax based on Band D
2. 2022/23 parish and district council tax by band
3. 2022/23 total council tax (OCC, PCCTV, VWHDC and parishes)
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1 (cont.)
Appendix 2
Appendix 2 (cont.)
Appendix 3
Appendix 3 (Cont.)