AVDC Council tax rise 1.95% - lowest for 10 years

AVDC will keep its council tax increase in April to just five pence a week on its average Band D bill – despite the pressures on council finances as a result of the recession.

Last night’s (3 February) full council meeting agreed to a 1.95 per cent increase in Aylesbury Vale’s share of the council tax bill, meaning that it will now charge £131.07 a year for a Band D house, up £2.50.

This comes despite reductions in income from investments, a low government funding settlement, increasing fuel costs and lower income from fees and charges.

The council has looked at a range of options to balance the books. The budget has been reduced by more than £700,000 to meet the council’s initial budget gap of £1.1 million. Some of this has been found through efficiency reviews of each service. Other measures approved include:

Introducing charges for pre-planning advice
Making a small reduction in the amount of funding to voluntary and community groups
Removing council funding from events such as Parklife and Buckingham Festival Fortnight
Removing funding from the Reflex Gym in Winslow and the Buckingham Tourist Information Centre.
The salaries of all council employees has also been frozen for the coming financial year and there will be no increase in councillors’ allowances to help keep council tax down and protect key front-line services.

As part of the overall budget package, Buckingham is to get a new long-stay car park at Stratford Fields and more short-stay parking spaces at Cornwall’s Meadow. These improvements will be funded in part by the introduction of modest parking charges in Buckingham. The budget also provides for some free parking in the run-up to Christmas

Councillor Neil Blake, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “This is a budget which has been prepared with a great deal of prudence, care and consideration. We’ve worked very hard over the past few months to find savings in areas with the least impact on most Aylesbury Vale residents. We know many families across the district are feeling the pain of the current recession and we’ve kept council tax rises as low as we can because we know the last thing residents need at the moment is a hefty rise in council tax bills. We will continue to look for efficiencies, including working with other district councils to deliver further cost savings and to minimise the level of council tax in the future.”

The council’s net budget for 2010/11 is £20.7 million, with £8.8 million of that funded directly from local council taxpayers.

AVDC sends out the annual bills and collects the tax on behalf of the county council, the police, the fire and rescue service, plus local town and parish councils. Each individual authority decides by how much its part of the final bill will increase.

Services provided by the district council include refuse collections, recycling facilities, benefits, licensing, car parking and environmental health, with the £131.07 Band D charge amounting to less than 10 per cent of the overall council tax bill for residents in Aylesbury Vale.

The overall council tax charge for 2010/11 will be set on 24 February