Tewkesbury Borough Council | Gloucestershire County Council the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire YOUR GUIDE to COUNCIL TAX
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TEWKESBURY BOROUGH YOUR GUIDE TO COUNCIL TAX 2018-19 Tewkesbury Borough Council | Gloucestershire County Council The Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire YOUR GUIDE TO COUNCIL TAX Contents Tewkesbury Borough Council Police and Crime Commissioner 03 Working for you 10 Working with the local community helps reduce crime and makes you feel safe Gloucestershire County Council 04 Providing value for money and Spending plans prioritising our services 11 Details of borough, county and police spending plans for 2018-19 Council tax and benefits 06 How much you pay, discounts, exemptions and other information Your council tax in numbers This is how much the average† home will pay each week, split as follows: Waste & recycling collection, housing, benefits, planning, sport & leisure £2.20 BOROUGH COUNCIL Crime reduction, safer communities, criminal justice, peace & good order £4.36 POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER Education, social care, fire service, roads, libraries £23.70 COUNTY COUNCIL † Band D Total £30.26 This document comprises part of your council tax demand notice. This booklet can be recycled in your blue recycling Designed & produced by Now Media, Cheltenham © 2018 bin. Printed on paper from sustainable forests. 02 TEWKESBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL Working for you The average band D tax payer will pay the borough council just over £2 a week for a huge range of services, including: waste, recycling and environmental services; advice and support for vulnerable people; support for communities, businesses and tourism; leisure and sport facilities; benefits advice; planning and building control; and elections. This past year, your £2 a week has also helped us to: Tewkesbury borough ■ generate more rental income and commercial residents pay one of investment to put back into services, keeping council tax low the lowest council tax ■ keep up our excellent recycling rates in the country rates ■ improve the way you engage with us online ■ make positive interventions to ■ secure funding to bring a business help prevent homelessness Growth Hub into the Public Services Centre in July 2018, supporting businesses ■ make great progress in delivering our who are starting-up, expanding or in affordable homes target need of specialist advice ■ put community groups in touch with funding ■ support parishes and town councils bodies, generating over £1 million in grants to shape housing development in for communities their areas by producing 13 local ‘neighbourhood plans’ ■ launch a new economic development and tourism strategy to support our ambition to be the primary growth engine of Gloucestershire. Pay, report and apply for a wide range of services Keep up with the latest at tewkesbury.gov.uk Tewkesbury borough news on: 01684 295 010 Tewkesbury Borough @tewkesburybcgov This booklet can be recycled in your blue recycling bin. Printed on paper from sustainable forests. 03 GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Gloucestershire County Council budget 2018-19 Gloucestershire is a great place to live, work and continue to rise, but no change in the number of do business. Most people enjoy a high standard working adults. That means overall, the number of living, with our health and well-being of people who rely on the council is likely to comfortably above the UK average. However, increase. we know there are areas where people need Our vision is to improve the quality of life for more help and support to live the lives they Gloucestershire people and communities, and want, especially our vulnerable adults, families here’s how we will spend taxpayers’ money in and children. the next financial year to help achieve that: Our population is also changing. We expect the number of older people and children to Adult services Children & families £133.172 million £102.974 million (including help for people with learning (including schools, children’s disabilities, older people, vulnerable adults) services, prevention & wellbeing) Public health £24.271 million (ring-fenced grant) Here’s how we plan to spend your money this year The total budget is Business support £413.5 million for 2018-19 £27.917 million Technical & corporate £44.721 million Communities (including cost of & infrastructure funding infrastructure £80.426 million investment) (including highways, libraries, trading standard, fire & rescue, waste) In addition to the budget a further £4.6 million is • £2.6 million for children’s social care anticipated as part of the business rate • £1 million for adult social care retention pilot for 2018-19, which allows us to • £0.53 million for the Highways Local Scheme keep more of the county’s business rates. This • £0.47 million for electric vehicle money will be invested in the following: infrastructure 04 GLOUCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Where does most of your money go? Council services currently help 25,000 people in Gloucestershire who have a disability, are vulnerable, or live with an age related disorder. We know more people want to live independently, and we’re using technology like Telecare so people can stay in their own homes. With numbers expected to rise, demand is going to continue to increase. That’s why we need more people to help themselves, so we can What about the roads? be there for those who need us most. We will be investing an extra £2.5 million overall to protect Last year, the council promised an extra £150 vulnerable older people. million for our roads over the next 5 years. That money is being spent on everything from potholes repairs to road safety schemes. Following the Elmbridge roundabout improvements, we will be redesigning Over and Cross Keys roundabouts to help keep our county moving. The council has also put aside £2.74 million to support Highways England’s A417 safety improvements and money for the Highways Local Scheme giving every county councillor £20,000 to spend on improving highways For the full budget visit in their area. With all this work going on, it www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/ means there will be some disruption on our roads. Thank you for your patience – it will be GCCbudget worth it. Are we doing enough to protect our children and young people? Last year, Ofsted told us our children’s services were inadequate and we are determined to improve. The latest feedback from inspectors was that we have addressed many of the issues, but we need to do more. We will be investing an extra £16.3 million to help the most vulnerable children and young people in the county, funding more social workers, as well as services like foster care and adoptions plus a further £2.6 million from the business rate pilot. 05 ABOUT COUNCIL TAX How much you pay Which band? The right band Your property has been assessed for council tax There are very few circumstances in which in one of eight valuation bands (A-H) according appeals against banding can be made and are to its estimated sale value at 1 April 1991. The restricted to: table below shows the council tax payable for — an increase in the property value resulting each band for this year. from building work If you are a band D payer, £114.36 will go to Tewkesbury Borough Council, £226.49 will be — a decrease in the property value due to the going to the Police and Crime Commissioner and demolition of any part of the property, any £1,232.21 will go towards services supplied by the changes in the physical state of the local area county council. or an adaption for use by someone with a The £1,232.21 for the county council includes a disability charge of £68.08 for adult social care functions. — a change in the balance between domestic and business use of your property Making an appeal does not allow you to withhold payment of council tax. If your appeal is successful we will refund any overpayment. Next step Email us on A council tax payer can ask the Valuation Office Agency to review their council tax band or can [email protected] make a proposal to formally challenge their or call 01684 272 034 band. Council tax payers need to provide reasons why they believe their banding is incorrect. Further information can be found at www.voa.gov.uk. Property values Borough Police and Crime County* Total Band (As at 01/04/91) (£) Commissioner (£) (£) (£) A up to £40,000 76.24 150.99 821.47 1,048.70 B £40,001 - £52,000 88.95 176.16 958.39 1,223.50 C £52,001 - £68,000 101.65 201.32 1,095.30 1,398.27 D £68,001 - £88,000 114.36 226.49 1,232.21 1,573.06 E £88,001 - £120,000 139.77 276.82 1,506.03 1,922.62 F £120,001 - £160,000 165.19 327.15 1,779.86 2,272.20 G £160,001 - £320,000 190.60 377.48 2,053.68 2,621.76 H Exceeding £320,000 228.72 452.98 2,464.42 3,146.12 *Includes charges for adult social care 06 ARE YOU ELIGIBLE FOR A DISCOUNT? Discounts Disabled persons reductions Long term empty properties Your bill may be reduced if your home has These are properties which have been unoccupied certain features which are essential, or of major and unfurnished for 6 months or more. No discount importance, to an adult or child with a disability, is awarded. From April 2018, properties which have who lives in the property. These features are: been empty and substantially unfurnished for two years or more will be charged a 50% premium — a room (other than a bathroom, kitchen or increasing the council tax charge to 150%. toilet) which is used by the disabled person (eg, a room used for dialysis equipment).