Council tax changes (From Gazette & Herald)

Council tax changes

MR Baynard asks that City of York Council publish in the Evening Press full details of its financial position so he "can make a definitive stance on council tax" (Letters, January 22).

This is just not practical.

Taken together, the two budget documents needed as the starting point are 30 pages of A4. They are public documents which can be made available to him and were considered by the executive on December 16.

To understand the situation more fully he will also need a copy of the Budget Book 2003/4 which is about 200 pages long.

To really get to grips with the changes imposed by central Government this year it is also necessary to refer to the draft local government financial settlement 2004/5 which is two inches thick and many hundreds of pages long and needs two weeks of detailed consideration by experienced finance officers to reduce it to manageable proportions.

We now await the final version of the local government financial settlement which is expected next week. If that timetable is met we should be able to publish our council tax proposals by Monday February 9.

This will be a public document to be considered at the executive meeting of February 17 and at budget council on February 24 when the council tax will be set. These are public meetings which Mr Baynard is welcome to attend and the relevant papers will be available on application at Guildhall.

Coun Quentin Macdonald,

Executive member resources,

City of York Council,

Guildhall, York.

Updated: 10:46 Wednesday, January 28, 2004