Council Tax guide - the future is orange

People across East Devon will shortly be receiving their Council Tax bills. To help them understand the charges and the help that may be available for people struggling with household bills, a partnership of councils and other agencies have produced a 40 page guidance booklet.

Council Tax Bills for 2009-10 will be arriving at homes across East Devon in the middle of this month (March) along with the bright orange A5 guidance booklet. Above: The orange front cover of this year's A5 council tax booklet

The booklet explains where the money goes and makes it easier for householders to understand the charging system and the many ways in which people can get help with payments.

For example, the booklet explains that EDDC collects council tax for parish councils (2%), Devon County Council (75%), Devon and Cornwall Police Authority (10%) and the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (5%). EDDC's share is just 8%.
EDDC's portion of the overall Council Tax bill has been frozen at last year's rate, so this part of the bill will show no increase. But the total that each household has to pay will still be more, because there have been increases in the charges made by some of the other organisations that are part of the Council Tax process.

For each band of council tax payer, the annual amount retained by EDDC works out as follows:

Band A £78.83
Band B £91.96
Band C £105.10
Band D £118.24
Band E £144.52
Band F £170.79
Band G £197.07
Band H £236.48

Councillor Andrew Moulding, East Devon District Council's Portfolio Holder Resources, said: "EDDC has the job of collecting Council Tax on behalf of five organisations, including itself. It's important that the public understand the difference between how much of their Council Tax payment EDDC actually keeps and how much it hands on to the other organisations.

"For the average Band D household, the annual payment to EDDC is £118.24 - that's just £2.27 per week, the same as last year. The full amount payable in the coming year by each Band D household after adding together the various agencies who take a share of the money is £28 a week. So in fact EDDC will be handing on £25.73 to others".
The new booklet also contains helpful advice for those who may be struggling to pay household bills in these difficult times. The message is: "Don't bury your head in the sand. If you are in danger of getting into arrears, please seek advice from an EDDC advisor as soon as possible".

Before dialling, please remember two things:

This is a very hectic few weeks for staff in EDDC's Council Tax service, so phone lines may be busy. Please be patient if you can't get through first time

To save you time, have a look through the orange guidance booklet, produced jointly by EDDC and its partner councils in East Devon, together with the police and fire authorities - it may just tell you what you need to know and save you a phone call.

The booklet is packed with useful information about the services that are paid for through council tax and examples of how this works in practice in everyday life.

The guide has 40 pages of facts and figures, diagrams and pictures. It covers every aspect of the Council Tax - from who receives the money to how it is spent and from what each parish will pay to how people on a low income can receive help.
Included are contributions from:
Devon County Council
Devon and Cornwall Police Authority
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority
East Devon District Council

The joint council tax and performance summary is produced by the organisations listed above working together and sharing the costs. Government legislation requires these authorities to inform council tax payers about many aspects of the council tax. The booklet is considered to be the most user-friendly way of presenting the information at a reasonable cost (15p per household) and also makes it possible to pass on other useful facts about the work these organisations do throughout the year.

There are sections on:

Coping on a low income
Helping pensioners or people who are disabled
Dealing with financial or legal problems
How the council tax "cake" is shared out across Devon
How each authority spends the money it gets
What services you get from EDDC
How these match the Council's priorities

There are also useful phone numbers including:

EDDC's Council Tax and Benefits Helpline
Business Rates Helpline
Inland Revenue Tax Credit Helpline
Pension Service
CAREdirect
Registering to vote
Concessionary Bus Fares Helpline
The Benefit Fraud Hotline

The booklet will be available from the end of March on EDDC's website at: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk

The Council Tax bills themselves are now more user-friendly, with clearer contact details and more easily identifiable payment options. They also include information about efficiency savings.

To reduce call handling time, there are direct lines for Council Tax and Benefit enquiries. However, with some 60,000 bills issued, the first week or so will bring a high level of enquiries.

An EDDC spokesman said: "Every call is important to us, but we expect to experience above average call volumes in the immediate period after bills are received. So we would ask customers to please be patient and bear with us".

The direct line for Council Tax and Benefit enquiries is: 01395 517 446.
The number for all general EDDC enquiries is 01395 516 551.
With their Council Tax Bill, householders will also receive a notice giving details of changes to Refuse and Recycling collections over the Easter, May and August Bank Holiday weekends.

EDDC sets an 'exemplary' Council Tax for 2009-10

With an eye to the current economic downturn, East Devon District Council last Wednesday (18 February) set an 'exemplary' Council Tax. There will be no increase in the amount householders in East Devon have to pay to EDDC in the coming year, making it the lowest in Devon.

Proposing that the EDDC precept for 2009-10 should be frozen at current levels, Miss Sara Randall Johnson, Leader of the Council, said: "Nobody is immune to the effects of the Credit Crunch, and that includes local councils like ours. But at times like this we all need to help each other - which is why we have worked out a way that we can make no increase in the Council Tax paid to EDDC by householders in our district.

"The Council Tax bill that householders in East Devon receive in March may still go up - due to charges made by others. But they will pay the same in 2009-10 for services provided by EDDC as they did last year.

"This is a very volatile time for Devon councils to be operating, not only because of the financial challenges that Governments, companies and individuals are facing, but because of the uncertainty caused by the ongoing Local Government Review.

"Despite all of this, East Devon proposes to lead the way with an exemplary budget and show how it is possible to manage resources in such a way that services can continue to be delivered without hitting hard-pressed residents in the pocket.

"This council demonstrates why Whitehall should not be tampering with the current two-tier system of local government. We are big enough to manage funds and resources effectively, whilst still being small enough to care.

"There are people out there who have lost their jobs; there are families who are struggling to make ends meet; and there are pensioners who are seeing their hard-earned savings bringing a smaller return as the interest rate plunges. This budget is for them".

Miss Randall Johnson added that due to prudent budgeting in the past, the Council has reserves on which it can draw in order to keep charges down. She said there would be no general increase in car park charges, although one or two prime sites may see a small rise.
She was also pleased to reveal that EDDC was now charging the lowest Council Tax in Devon.

Turning to the way that EDDC proposes to freeze Council Tax without reducing service levels, Miss Randall Johnson went on: "We always work hard to ensure that we give our residents the best possible value for money. This year, we have had to pull out all the stops to find ways of operating in a more challenging commercial environment without passing on costs to householders.
"We will make even better use of Government funding than before and we will continue to charge commercial fees for our services. That helps us to keep down the amount we ask for in Council Tax.

"In 2009-10, we are asking our Council Tax payers for £6.663m. A typical Band D Council Tax payer will pay £118.24 a year, exactly the same as last year and equivalent to paying just £2.27 a week for all the basic services EDDC provides.

"Delivering the ambitious programme of improvements set out in our Corporate Strategy will not be cheap but, through careful financial management, we believe we are again offering excellent value for money in the coming year".