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Posted below is information from DDC's Head of Finance which I have had prepared for tomorrow evening's meeting. Whilst it might not be straightforward for some to pick up on first read. It really contains the initial financial facts.
I suppose the point to make is that if accepted in total or part and implemented by DTC, Dover council taxpayers will only pay for their loos and each Town or village will pay only for theirs. These sums will then be removed from the DDC proportion of your Council tax.
You only pay for loos once. If accepted DDC will continue to run the contract for the life of the existing agreement, therefore no extra admins costs for DTC. The benefit of better prices from a larger contract also continue to come into play. If DTC want extra opening hours or more frequent cleaning schedules these can be added to the contract. Local people making local decisions.
Dover District Council Budget 2010/11
The Council Tax charge raised by Dover District Council (DDC) for its own purposes is amongst the lowest for a district in Kent. The Band D charge for DDC is £155.07. This compares with the following charges for neighbouring authorities :
Council
Annual Band D Council Tax
£
Dover District Council 155.07
Canterbury City Council 174.42
Shepway District Council 239.00
Thanet District Council 204.93
Central Government has the power to limit (or cap) the Council Tax raised by upper tier and second tier authorities (such as Kent County Council and Dover District Council), but does not have the power to cap town and parish councils. They are free to increase their element of the Council Tax as they choose.
The government does not announce the criteria for capping before councils set their budgets. In recent years this cap has been set at 5%. For 2010/11 it is widely expected to be set at no more than 3% - this would enable DDC to increase the Council Tax it sets for its own purposes, at Band D, by up to £4.65 per annum or 9p per week.
At the same time, the Government has increased the £10.164m of revenue grant it provides to the Council by just 0.5% for 2010/11. A 3% increase in Council Tax is not, therefore sufficient to make up for the shortfall in revenue grant from Government - before any increases in costs, and reductions in other income are taken into account.
DDC is therefore working with Town and Parish Councils to protect services within the resources available. The table below shows the costs, currently borne by DDC, to maintain the toilets in Dover Town.
Dover TC Precept Costs (Based on 2009/10 Precept of £625,650)
Connaught Park
Costs per toilet...
Stembrook £9,824.41
Maison Dieu £24,884.18
Buckland Bridge £17,875.13
Esplanade £8,686.98
East Cliff £15,935.54
Total £86,984.77
Band D Cost per week 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.18
Band D Cost per year 1.04 2.65 1.90 0.92 1.04 1.69 9.24
If the Town Council chose to increase its Council Tax for a Band D property by £9.24 per annum, or 18p per week, this would raise sufficient funds to meet all of the above costs. The overall Council Tax for a Band D property in Dover Town is £1,448.59, so the increase required would amount to 0.64% of the total Council Tax.
