Archived press release

Date Published: 10/03/08

Council tax bills in Aylesbury Vale are set to rise by 4.4 per cent overall from 1 April, a weekly increase of £1.09 per household for a typical Band D property.

The overall increase, which covers services provided by Buckinghamshire County Council, the police and fire authorities, as well as Aylesbury Vale District Council, amounts to £56.90 for the full year.

About two-thirds of each resident’s council tax goes to the county council, which will receive an extra £43.88 from Band D residents this year.

AVDC will get an extra £4.83, an increase of four per cent, which will help pay for the district council’s net spending of £20 million agreed at last month’s budget meeting.

Thames Valley Police has levied an extra £5.57 annual cost, with the fire authority asking for an additional £2.62.

The full range of increases over the eight bands will be from £31.61 on a Band A property to £113.80 on a Band H property. There will be additions for parish and town council purposes, depending on where residents live.

This year, an average Band D household will pay AVDC £126.04 a year, an increase of nine pence a week, resulting in a weekly charge of £2.42 for the whole range of district council services.

Only ten per cent of the overall council tax bill that the district council collects relates to services provided by AVDC, but it enables it to fund a range of services including refuse collection, recycling and street cleaning, housing and homelessness, planning and environmental health.

The district council is constantly seeking more efficient ways to improve services. Through savings made in purchasing supplies and services, driving out inefficiencies and ensuring it collects money efficiently, the council has been able to keep its council tax increase to four per cent.

Some of the major initiatives the council has planned in its capital spending programme of more than £100 million over the next four years include the Waterside retail and residential development, the new theatre in Aylesbury and new affordable housing schemes.

Councillor Margaret Morgan-Owen, AVDC Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “This council is committed to maintaining and improving the quality of our services whilst keeping increases in the council tax under our control to a minimum. This year’s grant from the government was way below what local authorities were hoping for, but we have worked hard to deal with the increasing pressures put upon us, the changing demands of government, and to continue the transformation of our district, while still maintaining high quality services for local people. Taking all of this into account, I think the increase in our council tax of four per cent, or only nine pence per week, is fair and reasonable.”

Leaflets offering further information about the new council tax rates for 2008/9 and how to claim council benefit will be sent to all households in the Aylesbury Vale district shortly.

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Notes to editors:
Council tax, band by band, for the Aylesbury Vale area, excluding town and parish council precepts, for 2008/9 is Band A – £896.44; Band B – £1,045.85; Band C – £1,195.26; Band D – £1,344.66; Band E – £1,643.47; Band F – £1,942.29; Band G – £2,241.10; Band H – £2,689.32 

For interviews, please contact:
• Councillor Margaret Morgan-Owen, Cabinet Member for Resources, 01296 651114
• Peter Watson, Head of Finance, 01296 585390