Issue - meetings

Purpose of Report

To seek a recommendation from the Executive on the Council Tax Base for the financial year 2019/20.

Decision

The Executive recommended:

(1)       That Council notes that there are no special items as defined in Section 35 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as amended) applicable to any part or parts of the City of Lincoln local authority area.

(2)       That Council approves the Chief Finance Officers’ calculation of the Council Tax Base for the financial year commencing 1 April 2019 and ending 31 March 2020, as set out in Appendix B of the report.

(3)       That Council approves, in accordance with the Chief Finance Officers’ calculation, and pursuant to the Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 (as amended), that the Council Tax Base for the 2019/20 financial year is 24,299.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The Local Government Finance Act 1992 and Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) Regulations 1992 (as amended) required the Council to formally set its Tax Base as the first stage of the Council Tax setting process.

Certain assumptions had to be made in order to determine the number of dwellings within the authority’s area and these were set out in Appendix A to the report.

The calculation of the Council Tax Base, as detailed in Appendix B to the report, showed the number of Band D equivalent chargeable dwellings as being 24,299. This was based upon the above Regulations and assumed that 98.75% of the Council Tax due for 2019/20 would be collected.

The Council Tax Base number of Band D equivalent chargeable dwellings for 2019/20 had been calculated as 28,717, less 4,418 deduction calculated for the Localised Council Tax Support Scheme, resulting in a proposed Council Tax Base for 2018/19 of 24,299.