Cabinet considered the head of finance’s report regarding the amount of council tax reduction scheme grant that would be passed down to town and parish councils for 2014/15, how the grant amounts for individual town and parish councils would be calculated, and the actual amounts.
The council received funding during 2014/15 that would be attributable to town and parish councils to mitigate the impact of the council tax reduction scheme on their taxbases. There were two options to distribute the grant:
1. For 2014/15, the council could decide to distribute the pot of money by the same proportions as 2013/14. This would provide stability for some town and parish councils but if any had a significant increase in residents claiming under the council tax reduction scheme during 2013/14, this would not be taken into account in the 2014/15 grant. Also, some towns and parishes did not receive any grant at all during 2013/14 because they had not been impacted by the introduction of the scheme. If circumstances had changed in these particular towns and parishes, this would not be taken into account under this proposal.
2. Alternatively, the scheme’s effect could be recalculated again for 2014/15 using up to date council tax reduction scheme figures. However, it would introduce an element of volatility for town and parish councils if circumstances in their area had changed significantly.
The officers had met with town and parish councils to explain the scheme and seek their views on the preferred option. The response was a preference for option 2. Scrutiny Committee had considered the scheme and also preferred option 2.
Cabinet preferred option 2, believing that recalculating the figures with the most up to date figures was fairer. Cabinet asked the leader to re-send his letter about the scheme to town and parish councils and asked the officers to inform each town and parish council of their share of the grant.
RECOMMENDED: to Council:
(a) that the total council tax reduction scheme grant to be passed down to town and parish councils for 2014/15 be £160,593;
(b) that the individual amounts for town and parish councils be calculated based on their relative need after considering the negative impact of the council tax reduction scheme on parish taxbases and the positive impact of additional charges for empty dwellings and second homes; and
(c) that the individual grant amounts for towns and parishes are as set out in the appendix to these minutes.