Residents in the Rochford District will have an average 0.47 per cent increase in their Council Tax for the financial year 2014/2015.

Last week, Rochford District Council agreed a 1.89 per cent increase for their portion of the Council Tax for 2014/2015.

This will take the amount of Council Tax paid to the District Council for an average band D property to £208.98 from £205.11 last year (which equates to £3.87 per year or 7½p a week).

The parish and town councils average council tax is £39.78, an increase of 1.6% compared to 2013/14.

The Police & Crime Commissioner for Essex has now agreed his precept at 1.97 per cent, which now makes it possible to calculate the total Council Tax bill for residents.

This means that the total average Council Tax bill for an average band D property in the Rochford District will be 1,546.20 per annum – an overall average increase of £7.29 per year (0.47 per cent).

Of the total Council Tax bill only 14 per cent comes to Rochford District Council with the rest going to Essex County Council (70 per cent), Essex Fire and Rescue (4 per cent), the Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex (9 per cent) and the Parish and Town Councils (3 per cent).

Rochford District Council is committed to giving residents the best value for money and needs to reduce spending by £0.9m this year. This follows on from the £0.5m of efficiencies the Council was asked to find last year and £0.9m of efficiencies the year before.

The Leader of Rochford District Council, Councillor Terry Cutmore, said:  “We understand that many residents across the Rochford district are feeling the squeeze financially, and as such we have thought long and hard before increasing our part of the Council Tax by this small amount.

“Before taking this tough decision, a public consultation was carried out with residents to seek their views. The results showed 49% of respondents would be happy to see an increase in Council Tax if it avoided further reductions in services, 34% did not agree and 16% had no view or did not answer the questions.

“Therefore, in light of cuts from Central Government, we have made this difficult decision so that we can continue to provide the high level of service that residents have come to expect.”

 

The average Council Tax is made up as follows:

                                                                           13/14                 14/15


Essex County Council                                         1,086.75             1,086.75
Essex Fire Service                                               66.42                  66.42
Police & Crime Commissioner for Essex              141.48                144.27
Parish Councils                                                   39.15                  39.78
Rochford District Council                                     205.11                208.98
    
Total                                                                   1,538.91            1,546.20