COUNCIL tax bills for the typical household in two Frome Valley parishes will top £2,500 for the first time this year, with the other three not far behind.
Band D tax payers living in the area covered by Frampton Cotterell Parish Council are set to pay an extra £126.80 or 5.14% from April, when increases in charges from South Gloucestershire Council, the parish council, police and fire service are added up. It will take the total bill to almost £2,600 – a final figure of £2,596.02.
In Iron Acton the total bill for median Band D households will be £2,532.18, up £118.61 or 4.91% on last year.
Three other parish council areas will have total Band D bills just under £2,500: in Winterbourne the total will be £2,467.65, up £120.01 or 5.11% on last year, in Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath it will be £2,470.19, up £115.29 (4.90%) and in Rangeworthy it will be £2,488.92, up £138.37 (5.89%).
Charges vary according to the parish residents live in, with some parish councils having more staff and facilities to pay for than others.
A much bigger difference is between property values, with this year’s overall bill in Frampton Cotterell ranging from £1,730.69 for householders in the smallest Band A homes to £5,192.04 for people with homes in Band H.
South Gloucestershire Council approved a 4.99% increase – the maximum allowed without calling a referendum – at its annual budget meeting in February.
It takes the authority’s basic charge to residents with homes in the average Band D tax bracket up by £94.66, from £1,904.91 to £1,999.57.
The council also levies a variable ‘special expenses’ charge for neighbourhood facilities it provides, which can include upkeep of neighbourhood parks and open spaces, where it runs them.
The rest of the overall bill is made up of charges from other public bodies.
Avon & Somerset’s police and crime commissioner Clare Moody is raising charges for a Band D tax payer by £15 (5.12%) from £293.20 to £308.20.
Avon Fire Authority is raising its annual Band D charge by £5 or 5.53%, to £95.43.
Band D bills for your area
Town and parish councils are not subject to government restrictions on how much they can raise without a referendum, and as a result some increase their share of bills by a higher percentage, to pay for new facilities, workers or responsibilities.
In the Frome Valley, Frampton Cotterell Parish Council’s Band D precept charge is £177.13 – up £11.32 or 6.83% on last year. Residents will also pay £15.69 in special expenses (up 82p or 5.51%) in Band D. The overall budget the parish council raises from its precept, collected by South Gloucestershire Council as part of council tax bills, is up by £37,799 or 8.5%, from £444,692 to £482,491.
Winterbourne’s bill lower than neighbours’
Winterbourne’s parish precept charge is up by £4.77 or 9.27% in Band D, from £51.46 to £56.23, to fund a £25,370 (11.37%) increase in its budget. The special expenses charge in the parish is up by 58p.
An increase in the number of households paying council tax as new homes are built means the rise in parish charges is smaller than the percentage budget increase.
Winterbourne has the lowest Band D parish precept charge and the lowest overall bill in the Frome Valley area – £128.37 less than in Frampton Cotterell.
Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath Parish Council has raised its Band D precept by just 47p (0.77%), from £61.42 to £61.89. Its overall precept budget is up by £1,139 (1.13%).
Special expenses are up by 16p to £5.10.
Iron Acton Parish Council has raised its Band D precept by £3.88 (3.14%) to £127.42, with special expenses up by 7p to £1.56.
The parish council’s overall budget has risen by £5,554 or 6.07%.
Rangeworthy has the biggest Band D precept rise, up by £23.36 (40.9%) to £80.48, funding an £8,328 (41.3%) increase in the budget. Special expenses are up by 35p to £5.24.
The highest council tax bills in South Gloucestershire are in Filton, where the town council pays for facilities including a leisure centre. Its Band D charge is £321.68, and total bills are £2,735.60, this year.
The lowest bills are in Tormarton, where the Band D total is £2,406.48, the Band D precept is £3.28 and there are no special expenses.
Council spends £20 million of reserves
SOUTH Gloucestershire Council is spending £20 million of its reserves to balance the books, as pressure on local services continues to build.
Changes to how business rates are collected have left the council £16m worse off this year, councillors heard as they met to vote on this year’s council tax bills on February 11.
The council will spend extra money on social care, equalities work, community cohesion, schools and other services, including school improvement programmes, support for children with complex needs and improving accessibility to local shops.
Council leader Maggie Tyrrell (Lib Dem, Thornbury – pictured above), said: “Our costs are increasing faster than inflation, faster than government funding, and faster than it’s reasonable or sustainable to raise council tax.
“Although this is a very tight budget, we’re pleased to invest in areas of great importance to us.”
There is rising demand for spending on care for elderly and disabled people and supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities, and an increase in costs to maintain roads, with extreme weather making potholes worse.
Co-leader Ian Boulton (Lab, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield), said: “At a time when many councils across the country are struggling to balance their books, we have delivered a responsible and balanced budget that protects the services residents rely on.”
The budget includes a 19% increase in garden waste collection fees, from £63 to £75, and an increase in car park charges of between 5% and 15%. Charges for private hire taxi licences, pest control and planning applications are also going up.
Opposition Conservative leader Liz Brennan (Frenchay & Downend) accused the ruling coalition of passing a budget aimed at “short term survival” after her group’s proposals to spend more on fixing potholes and cut spending on council political assistants and communications staff were voted down.
Meeting report by Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service