Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Prior to introducing the report, the Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance said an incorrect press statement had appeared in a local newspaper on an increase to Council Tax.

The Head of Finance clarified the position and explained that the Tax Base was the number of chargeable dwellings expressed as Band D equivalents of which there were 61,501.  The Council Tax Base calculations were supplied to the Welsh Government and used for the distribution of the Revenue Support Grant in the annual Provisional and Final Local Authority Revenue Settlement.  The calculations were also used by the Council when it set its annual budget to calculate the Council Tax levels.  This was done by dividing the net budget requirement by the Council Tax Base to provide the amount of Council Tax for a dwelling in Band D.  A set formula was then used to determine the Council Tax levels for the eight remaining Property Bands (A to C and E to I).

Also, the setting of the Council Tax Base allowed the County Council, Police & Crime Commissioner for North Wales and Town & Community Councils to calculate the following year’s Council Tax charges based on the estimated number of chargeable properties, expressed as the equivalent number of Band D properties in the Council’s area.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That a ‘nil’ level of discount for properties falling within any of the Prescribed Classes (A, B or C) be set and for this to apply to the whole of the County area; and

(b)       That the Tax Base of 61,501 chargeable Band D equivalent properties as shown in Appendix 1 be approved for the financial year 2014/15.