Less than £5 extra on Council Tax to fund Borough Council services

The overall Council Tax Bill is made up of three elements: Borough Council Services, County Council Services, which includes, adults and children’s services, schools and highways, and funding of Surrey Police.

While Runnymede is asking people in Band D homes to pay £4.96 more per year to fund its services, Surrey County Council has increased its figure by £77.10 and Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner has increased her requirement to fund the force by £10 per year.

This means that the overall increase for people living in band D homes in Runnymede will be £92.27. The total bill for a band D home will be £2,101.51 for the 2022-2023 financial year, compared with £2009.24 for the previous year.

Despite the increase, Runnymede residents will pay the lowest Council Tax in Surrey for Borough Services.

In addition to providing cost effective services for residents, the Council is also the most resilient in terms of how it delivers its services, with many run in-house.

The full breakdown for each Council Tax Band is as follows:

• Band A - £1,401.01
• Band B - £1,634.51
• Band C - £1,868.01
• Band D - £2,101.51
• Band E - £2,558.51
• Band F - £3,035.51
• Band G - £3,502.52
• Band H - £4,203.02

Runnymede’s Borough Councillors voted to keep their element of Council Tax below the £5 increase when the Full Council met on Thursday night.

Cllr Nick Prescot, Leader of Runnymede Borough Council, said:

We know there is a cost of living crisis on the horizon, and as Borough Councillors we are determined to do everything possible to provide efficient and effective services for our residents, supporting the local community in the process.

 

We’ve committed to maintaining our services like planning, bin collections, park maintenance, and housing repairs. We are also pushing our own levelling up plans, bringing economic success to our town centres, whilst delivering a number of other important priorities to support local people.

 

Council Tax accounts for about 11 per cent of our total income, and we are grateful to all residents who pay promptly. Sound financial management and other income like rental payments from business properties we own means we have been able to keep the increase as low as we can possibly justify whilst still providing good quality services and help for those most in need.

 

Council Tax also supports other key services across Surrey and our Borough. The vast majority of Council Tax will be spent by Surrey County Council on services such as, education, adult social care and children’s services.

As well as Council Tax, Runnymede Borough Council’s spending and its budget are based on income from:

• Business Rates
• Fees and charges for things like car parks, trade waste collection, hall hire, land searches, planning applications and other sources
• Investments, in both UK based financial institutions and in property. The Council has invested significantly in a property portfolio in the last 10 years, which is performing well and has created a regular income through rental payments to support services for local people.
• Other one-off forms of income such as grants and sponsorship
• Payments through service delivery agreements with other areas of the public sector

Council Tax Support

Cllr Prescot added:

As the cost of living increases, we know this will have a direct impact on many people and families living in our Borough. We’re committed to supporting residents. If you’re struggling to pay your Council Tax bill, help is available, please contact us to find out how we can assist you.”

If you require help, please visit our website and search for Council Tax Support.

Council tax rebate to help with energy costs

The Government has recently announced measures to help protect millions of households from rising energy costs including a £150 council tax energy rebate to all households in England whose primary residence is valued in council tax bands A – D.  The government have also stated that they will provide additional funding for billing authorities to operate a discretionary fund for households in need who would not otherwise be eligible.

We are currently awaiting more details from the Government about this funding. In the meantime, we recommend that residents sign-up to direct debit with the Council. This will ensure we can quickly and easily pay any eligible rebate into your account when the time comes.

Services which Runnymede Borough Council provides:

• Planning applications and enforcing breaches of planning permission
• Collecting refuse, recycling, garden and trade waste
• Running elections
• Managing around 3,000 council houses, including improvement works
• Community services like meals at home and GPS location services
• Community transport for the elderly and school pupils
• Environmental health and tackling fly-tipping
• Licensing pubs, clubs and taxis
• Managing parks and open spaces
• Providing modern, state of the art CCTV across the borough
• Running day centres
• Graffiti removal.