Having attended a budget briefing on Monday 11th December, Councillor Craig Browne reported on the latest news regarding Council Tax.
He said "One of the issues that Cheshire East Council has is that in 2014 Council Tax receipts funded about half of the costs of the services that they provided, by 2020 their target is to get that to fund two thirds of the services they provide.
"There are two main reasons for this, the first one is a reduction in the Revenue Support Grant, which is money that local authorities get back from central government, which in the current year has been approximately £30m. Next year it will be only £15.6m and then £10.4m the year after so we are looking at almost exactly a £20m reduction over the next two years from central government."
"The other reason, as many people don't necessarily realise, is that business rates - which are collected by local authorities - the receipts are not exclusively retained by them.
"In Cheshire East's case they only get to keep 30% of the money it collects from business rates. This is calculated by central government and there is formula that takes into account things like deprivation indices, population densities etc which means that whilst Cheshire East only keeps 30% of the business rates it receives Liverpool by contrast receives 130% of the business rates it receives - so this is quite a challenge for Cheshire East going forward."
He continued "So they are looking to increase the amount they raise through Council Tax next year by 7%, that doesn't mean that Council Tax bills are going up by 7%. Council Tax bills are going up by 4.99% but Cheshire East have calculated that they can raise the amount of Council Tax they collect reliant upon them building an additional 1800 homes - because obviously the occupant of those homes are then paying Council Tax and that's Council Tax which is not being paid at the moment."
He added "They are projecting forwards to a 3% increase in Council Tax in 2019/20 and the same again in 2020/21."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Time to start selling off more of the land bank.
What they need to do is cut back on the useless top management, and their salaries, instead of passing their bill on to us
Gwynneth Littleton.
“Please could you tell me how much per month is being paid to CEC officers who have been
suspended and who are under investigation for various reasons at this time.”
We have processed this request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.
• November 2017 - £35717 (gross salary)
• December 2017 - £39525 (gross salary)
Unfortunately CEC's response was no more than that- I had expected them to tell me how much it had cost since the first suspension, right through to the present date. I would also have liked to know how much is being spent in addition to cover the jobs of those suspended.
It seems that FOI requests have to be very precisely worded in order to get a meaningful response.
Whilst The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government may have been referred some of these repeat CEC failures (including planning, suspension, performance etc ), This latest cash demand in light of the fiscal dissipation highlighted above ( that does not highlight legal charges ) is unrealistic and justifies why this small county, smaller than many borough in Metropolitan areas should be merged ASAP with immediate savings. If some others had any dignity and clearly they don’t , they should review their own position and go. As Sir Humphrey himself once said in relation to misuse of revenue “A tiny mistake. The sort that anyone can make” ... Hacker: “A tiny mistake? 75,000 pounds? Give me an example of a big mistake”.... Sir Humphrey: “Letting people find out about it !”… Demonstrate Prudence and common sense with our tax dollars CEC . The true cost here is that significant breach of trust to the electorate. More of the same is not an option !
If this current demand goes ahead council tax will have rocketed by 12% in two years while slashing bus routes and no discernible increase in anything but pay-offs,investigation costs and salary payments for suspended executives.
Mr Jones managed to maintain services for three consecutive years on zero increase and he was supposed to be the baddy.
Just saying...
Vic Barlow is right to make the point Michael Jones delivered a zero increase year upon year. Not like that these days where CEC & the PCC believe we all have bottomless pits of brass just waiting for them to grab it.
It is abundantly clear that the current leadership, including the weak-kneed cabinet, never bother to a) reign in the departmental heads wastage, b) start employing competent dept heads and c) salary them all on ONLY what we can afford.
To ensure this happens we must elect a new breed of competent, independent councillors to see we never have a repeat of the incompetence on display today. The Conservative councillors who are the CEC majority have totally failed and let us all down.
Party politics must have no further part in CECs business, therefore the answer must be to elect many more independents across the borough.
Residents of Wilmslow (RoW) will be doing our best by offering the electorate RoW (independent) candidates. RoW has already shown its value by having three councillors (one on CEC - Toni Fox in Dean Row, and two on WTC - David Jefferay & Mark Goldsmith (both East ward). Their presence has made a difference on WTC and Toni is very active and
increasingly influential at CEC in attempting, along with her Independent colleagues, to turn the ship from the rocks - no easy task when the majority councillors repeatedly give the impression they will not jump ship until it hits the rocks. Interestingly, at least one cabinet member has done that,jumping from the Lib Dems to the Cons, probably for the better opportunities offered by the majority..
Time for a big change is fast approaching - May 2019 are the next elections.
If you would like to help RoW, fund raising, canvassing etc, to better the town or to be considered for council, contact us on 07930 377778 or 07846 082660.
Sir Humph “Taxation isnt about what you need”……. Hacker ”What is it about?" Sir Humph “ the Treasury doesn’t work out what they need to spend & then think how to raise the money” … Hacker “ What does it do ?”
Sir Humph “They pitch for as much as they think they can get away with and then think what to spend it on” ..
Hacker “These figures are just guesses” Sir Humph “ No they are government statistics, they’re.facts !!”