Ryedale council tax bills set to rise by 7.2pc (From Gazette & Herald)

Ryedale council tax bills set to rise by 7.2pc

RYEDALE council tax bills are set to rise sharply after councillors last night approved an overall 7.2pc rise.

The rise is well above the rate of inflation.

It will mean the 'average' householder - or those living in Band D properties - will pay an extra £9.80 per year in the district council part of their bill.

The overall Band D bill will jump by £59.

Members of Ryedale District Council policy and resources committee agreed on a budget figure of £6,161,650 for the coming year.

This is an increase of £331,650 on last year's estimate.

Councillors have blamed central government legislation for the increases, in particular the Best Value reviews.

Best Value obliges councillors to seek the best deal for taxpayers - but the reviews are pricey.

The cost of Best Value in the coming year will be £193,000.

This works out at roughly £8 per council tax Band 'D' household, committee chairman Keith Knaggs said before the meeting.

As well as this, each audit of the council's accounts costs £30,000, Coun Knaggs added.

The proposals were passed unanimously with debate kept to a minimum.

Councillors were however keen to stress that many hours of committee work had been put in before the meeting.

The figure will now go before the full council, due to meet on March 8.

After the meeting, Leader of the Council Alan Farnaby stressed the point that members had been forced into the increases by central government rules.

Again, he pointed to the Best Value reviews as causing the problems.

He said: "We are not happy about the increases but we had no choice but to bring them in. Obviously we would have liked to have kept the increase below the level of inflation but we have been forced into it.

"Central Government have brought in a lot of costly extra legislation and have given us very little financial recompense for it."

Ryedale council taxpayers can rest assured their cash is being spent wisely after the district council received a good annual audit report.

The report was presented to the policy and resources committee by audit manager Rob Chamber.

Among the six main areas of praise were the council's work to implement its best value performance plan, and efforts to combat fraud and corruption.

Best Value is a Government directive requiring local authorities to find the best deal for taxpayers in the work they do.

And while auditors found seven areas in which they felt action is required, they said that only certain parts of those areas needed attention.

These include work to gather revenue owed from income and management of existing assets.

The auditor also pointed out that cash from council house sales will not last forever, and so members were encouraged to draw up a financial strategy to cover the £250,000 per year they draw from the bank.

Coun John Raper asked if members could be criticised for implementing a policy that doesn't maximise income but is what the people want.

Mr Chamber replied: "There would be knock on effects of that decision. Using car parking as an example, if you say you won't charge people to park the authority loses £200,000.

"We won't criticise you for making the decision - that is your right - but if you do nothing about it we would criticise you strongly."

Coun Allin Jenkins said: "I am aware that there has been cases where members have been accused of fraud with regard to benefits. Do you have concerns about this council or nationally?"

Mr Chamber replied there were no allegations of fraud, it was mentioned just to remind members to "cover themselves".

Committee chairman Keith Knaggs was pleased with the report.

He said: "It is a good report and has been for the last couple of years. Naturally we are pleased, but we will continue to work with common sense and with the council tax payer in mind."

Mr Chambers confirmed: "It is a good one. There is no evidence to suggest there are any problems with the financial stewardship of this council."

In a separate piece of business, members agreed unanimously that council Chief Executive Harold Mosley's contract should be renewed.

Updated: 16:47 Friday, February 23, 2001