Council tax bills are arriving at the homes of Thanet people this month and include rises on last year from Kent County Council, Thanet council, parish and town councils, The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent and Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority.
Thanet council has introduced a 2.99% rise – equating to around an extra £6.57 a year for a Band D household – and Kent County Council’s rise is 4.99%, or around £1.13 extra per week for a band D household.
The 4.99% is made up of two parts:
- 2.99% general increase
- a further 2% for the ‘adult social care precept’. This is the additional money councils raise from Council Tax in order to help pay for adult social care services. This amount can only be used as part of a council’s adult social care budget.
Kent & Medway Fire Authority has a 2.9% raise on last year and Kent Police and Crime Commissioner a 7.6%.
Parish and town councils have also raised their precepts with a whopping 84% rise in Margate and 53% in Acol. This means residents of Band D properties in Acol have seen their parish precept rise from £39.69 last year to £61.02 this year. In Margate, for the same band, the bill has gone from £5.94 to £10.98.
In Ramsgate the rise is 19.2% – around an extra £10 on last year at £61.92 and Broadstairs has increased the charge by just under 20% – equating to around an extra £10 to total £59.49.
The lowest increase is for residents in Cliffsend, at 1.7% – or an extra 36p for a band D property,
The average combined rise this year is 5.3% (based on a Band B property).
The share out of the precept is:
- Kent County Council 72.43%
- Thanet District Council 13.25%
- The Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent 9.90%
- Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority 4.42%
This means for a Band D property Thanet council receives £226.44 while the county council reaps the lion’s share of £1,237.68.
Previously council tax could not be raised above 1.99 % without triggering a local referendum but the government-imposed cap has been relaxed to allow for a 2.99% rise.
For authorities providing social care, such as Kent County Council, the rise is allowed to be as high as 5.99%.
Of the overall bill, Thanet District Council’s share is around 14p in every £1 to pay for more than 30 different services.
This includes everything from running elections to harbours, planning to tourism, street cleaning to housing, community safety to recycling, maintenance of parks and sport facilities, to environmental health and more.
Find out if you are entitled to exemptions or discounts here
