Council Tax Consultation for 2012/13
The budget for policing in Warwickshire for 2012/13 is currently being formulated.
Our four year medium term financial plan, drawn up at the time we set the current year’s budget, assumes a council tax increase each year of 2.5%. On that basis, and taking account of reductions in government grants from the Coalition together with additional spending commitments we will have to meet, we need to save £22.9m over a four year period. On a budget of less than £100 million, this is a very challenging.
The process of saving this money is well underway, through the implementation of a new policing model, a ground breaking strategic alliance with West Mercia Police and Police Authority to provide services together, and a significant redundancy programme across back office services. There remains a residual gap of £3.8 million which we have yet to identify ways of closing. The Chief Constable is of the view that some of this will have to come from frontline policing.
The Government have offered us a grant, which, if we accept it, will allow us to freeze the council tax in 2012/13, while still receiving an amount of income equivalent to a 3% increase in council tax in 2012/13. However, because the grant is for one year only, accepting it will increase the gap in the budget from 2013/14 onwards by an additional £1.1m. Inevitably, frontline policing budgets would bear the brunt of this further reduction.
A complication is that from next November the current Police Authority will be replaced by an elected Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). One of the Commissioner’s first tasks will be to set the budget for 2013/14. The Government’s intention in introducing PCCs is to make policing more responsive to the views of the public, expressed through the ballot box. A decision to accept the freeze grant would reduce the money available to the PCC from 2013/14 onwards, which could seriously constrain their ability to do things differently and respond to whatever democratic mandate they have.
The Government has also announced that the maximum council tax increase that Police Authorities can levy for 2012/13, without conducting a referendum, is 4%. As the Authority is not prepared to countenance the cost of incurring a referendum, then this is the maximum tax increase under consideration. A tax increase of 4% would provide additional income over and above the Government’s grant offer of £0.352 million in 2012/13 and £1.4 million in each succeeding year.
In setting the 2012/13 council tax, the Police Authority is faced with a very difficult choice. At one extreme, by accepting the Government’s offer of a grant to freeze the council tax in 2012/13, the council tax will not increase next year, but it will have to make additional cuts in policing budgets from 2013/14 equivalent to about 27 police officers. At the other end of the spectrum, an increase of 4% in the council tax would cushion some of the reductions in frontline policing, but would add additional inflationary pressure to already stretched household budgets. An increase of 4% would be around £7 a year extra on the council tax, or 60p per month, on the average property.
The Police Authority meets to set its budget and the Council Tax on the 22nd February and would welcome your views by e-mail, in advance of that meeting. This will enable these views to be taken into account alongside all of the other relevant information which we need to use in seeking to make a balanced decision. Our e-mail address is policeauthority@warwickshire.gov.uk
