Mendip District Council

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Mendip District Council

• BUDGET CONSULTATION
• 2005/6 BUDGET PROPOSALS FROM MENDIP DISTRICT
  COUNCIL.
• Peter McKenzie Tel [phone]
• E-mail mckenziep_at_mendip.gov.uk
• Postal Address Mendip District Council
• Canards Grave Road
• Shepton Mallet
• BA4 5BT

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• The Council wishes to consult residents on the
  level of council tax it will set next year.
• The purpose of this evening is to give residents
  an overview of the Councils finances and what
  the Cabinet are proposing to the Council as a
  council tax increase for next year and the
  implications for our spending plans. The Cabinet
  would like to see the lowest possible increase
  and are currently planning on a maximum increase
  of 3.
• The budget options are to be considered by the
  Council on the 21st February. Only full Council
  can set the budget and council tax.
• Over the next few weeks officers and councillors
  will be preparing reports on next years business
  plans how we intend to deliver services to you,
  new initiatives and the costs involved. The
  report will also detail the service areas which
  will be reduced to focus the Councils resources
  on the priorities of safer, cleaner streets,
  greater prosperity and better resource management.

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• The Council sees this series of consultation
  meetings as one way of residents telling the
  Council their views on the budget. At the end of
  this short presentation we will go through ways
  you can make your views known.
• As background Mendip District Council provides
  the following services (Main areas only)
• Housing Benefit payments
• Environmental health, food hygiene inspection,
  licensing
• Maintenance of good housing standards (including
  renovation grants, disabled facilities grants
  etc.)
• Housing policy and homelessness
• Enforcement of local environment standards
• Collecting council tax and business rates
• Collecting domestic waste
• Recycling waste
• Street cleansing
• Town and country planning, building control
• Working with the police service and others to
  tackle crime and disorder
• Maintaining our public buildings and facilities
• Providing public car parks and toilets

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• Helping voluntary groups to support those in need
  in Mendip
• Shop mobility
• Sports and Leisure
• Conservation
• CCTV
• Tourism and regeneration initiatives
• The main projects the Council is progressing are
• Continuing (with a number of partners) a
  programme of facilitating affordable homes in the
  district.
• Continue the work on the regeneration of Shepton
  Mallet, Frome and Glastonbury.
• Work with the South West Regional Development
  Agency and others on the redevelopment of the
  Morlands site between Glastonbury and Street.
• Continue the work on bringing empty homes back
  into use, providing renovation grants and giving
  disabled facility grants to those in need.
• Continue with the work of providing the majority
  of houses in the district with a kerb side
  recyclable collection.
• Improving public convenience facilities as part
  of the drive to improve the tourist industry as
  well as improve town facilities to residents.

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• Also the Council wishes to continue to improve
  some of the services it provides at the moment.
  This largely depends on the resources available
  the tax level set and introducing new services
  when the Cabinet feels funding can be made
  available.
• This next slide shows an average council tax bill
  for Mendip District Council taxpayers. Mendip
  District Council sends out one bill- we have to
  collect tax on behalf of the County Council, the
  Parish or Town Council and the Police Authority.
  The fire service costs are met by the County
  Council and are included in their charge to you.
• For providing the range of services above the
  Mendip District Council charge (for a band D
  property) is around 120.12 per year which is
  2.31 per week. For 2002/3 the charge was 116.62

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• The Cabinets proposal of a 3 council tax rise is
  just under 7p per week and would mean a weekly
  council tax charge for MENDIP of 2.38 per week.
• A 1 increase in Mendip District Council tax
  equates to just over 2p per week.
• A 1 increase in Somerset County Council tax
  equates to just over 17.4p per week.

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• The next slide shows how we spend the Councils
  income. I have shown this by a breakdown of our
  expenditure by type (employees, contractors etc.)
• This demonstrates that around a third of our
  expenditure is on employees and contractors or
  partners involved in delivering services. Those
  partners include refuse collection, street
  cleansing, financial services, sports centres
  etc. Many of their costs will be employees or
  plant and equipment costs. Some of these costs
  will increase by more than 3 next year
  insurance premiums for all of us tend to increase
  each year, Mendip District Council included.
• To keep the Mendip Council tax rise at 3 the
  Council will set a budget which may reduce
  expenditure on some services and raises
  additional income, some from government. The
  budget will have some increases to fund its
  priorities, such as safer, cleaner streets.

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• An important source of income for the Council is
  the Government grant it receives. We had
  anticipated a low settlement of around 2.2 which
  would have increased our income by 150,000.
• The Government have increased our grant by 4.4
  which gives us an increase of 292,000.
• This increase in income together with a 3 tax
  increase will offset some inflation pressures we
  face and means the Council will be able to
  introduce some improvements to services. We may
  need to consider taking resources from some
  services to improve services in other areas-
  especially in the Councils priorities of safer,
  cleaner streets and greater prosperity through
  business and tourism.

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THE NEXT STEPS

• The Council wishes to consult residents on the
  level of Council tax they will be setting for
  next year. The proposal is a 3 increase taking
  our tax from 120.12 this year to 123.72 in next
  year (2005/6).
• Later in January the Councils detailed plans to
  balance its income and expenditure will be
  published. The budget setting timetable allows
  for detailed consideration of the budget by the
  Area and Scrutiny Boards with the final budget
  being considered by the Council on the 21st
  February.
• Not all residents will be able to come to Council
  meetings and the Council does wish to know
  residents views on the level of tax set and our
  spending plans.

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• We intend to do this in a number of ways,
• Members of the public can express views at
  Council meetings, I can include those views in
  the final report to Council
• There are specific pages on the Councils website
  www.mendip.gov.uk where you express your opinion
  on the budget proposals
• The press are here tonight and we are hoping this
  consultation exercise will be picked up by
  readers of local newspapers, who will then
  contact the Council. Residents can also leave
  letters addressed to me, without stamps, at local
  libraries or any Mendip Council premises. We are
  hoping this can be done electronically to
  minimise costs to the Council and our residents.