Issue - meetings

To consider the head of finance’s report.  

Cabinet considered the head of finance’s report that asked Cabinet to recommend Council to approve the council tax base for 2015/16. 

Before the council tax could be set by the council, it had to calculate the council tax base: an estimate of the taxable resources for the district as a whole and for each parish area.  The council tax base for the district had to be notified to Oxfordshire County Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner by 31 January 2015.  Each parish and town council was also notified of the figure for its area. 

David Turner, the chairman of the Scrutiny Committee, questioned why some dwellings qualified for a 50 per cent council tax reduction, and questioned whether the proposals in the report amounted to a policy change.  The officer reported that he would respond outside of the meeting to clarify why some dwellings qualified for a 50 per cent council tax reduction.  He also reported that the report did not recommend any policy change. 

Cabinet supported the recommendations. 

RESOLVED: to recommend Council

(a)               That the report of the head of finance to Cabinet on 4 December 2014 for the calculation of the council’s tax base and the calculation of the tax base for each parish area for 2015/16 be approved;

(b)               That, in accordance with The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by South Oxfordshire District Council as its council tax base for the year 2015/16 be 54,233.6;

(c)               That, in accordance with The Local Authorities (Calculation of Council Tax Base) (England) Regulations 2012, the amount calculated by South Oxfordshire District Council as the council tax base for the year 2015/16 for each parish be the amount shown against the name of that parish in Appendix 1 of the report of the head of finance to Cabinet on 4 December 2014.