ELECTIONS: South Somerset reduces its share of the Council Tax bill

COUNCILLORS at the Liberal Democrat-controlled South Somerset District Council last night (Thursday, February 26, 2015) voted to reduce its share of the Council Tax by nearly two per cent.

The full council met at its Brympton Way headquarters in Yeovil and decided to drop its bit of the Council Tax cake by 1.99 per cent – after five years of freezing the level at £150.74 annual charge per Band D property.

This now means that the average Band D property Council Tax level for 2015-16 is just £147.75, cheaper than six years ago in 2009-10 when it was £147.78.

The council has undertaken a re-assessment of forward risks, current reserves and forward commitments and concluded that £170,900 of confirmed New Homes Bonus money should be used to reduce the impact of Council Tax reduction on South Somerset residents in the 2015-16 budget.

The Government’s own assessment of “Spending Power” - the amount of income from Council Tax, New Homes Bonus, and other Government Grants per household - shows South Somerset having one of the lowest levels in England.

Despite this, the council has managed to find savings of almost £5.4 million over the last four years with a further £1.1m planned for 2015-16. This has meant that services have been maintained in the face of cuts of £6.5m in Government Grant over the last few years.

The overall Council Tax bill which will start falling through letterboxes is made up of five parts. Somerset County Council takes the lion’s share of the bill with other contributions made by Avon and Somerset Police, the district council, parish/town council and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.

The overall Council Tax bill for a Band D property in Yeovil, for example, for 2015-16 will be £1,523.82.

The council’s deputy leader, Cllr Tim Carroll, said: “Although our main Government grant has reduced by some 59 per cent over the past four years, we have compensated for this by driving out savings, generating additional income and, most significantly, optimising the income from New Homes Bonus.

“The council, as with other district councils, gets a sum equivalent to 80 per cent of the annual Council Tax on newly completed properties for six years on each property. Although the recession has impacted severely on the house building industry, we have still managed to retain a higher than average housing completion record in the South Somerset area.

“We have frozen our Council Tax at the same level for the past five years. With the recent announcement from Government on what we were likely to receive in the fifth year’s NHB settlement, we took the view at a late stage that part of this award could be used to mitigate the impact of Council Tax on our residents – this was a use that was explicitly outlined in the original introduction of NHB.”

Elections for the district council and town and parish councils in South Somerset will be held on the same day as the General Election – Thursday, May 7, 2015.

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