Chas Fellows column, leader of Stroud District Council (From Gazette Series)

Chas Fellows column, leader of Stroud District Council

8:10am Thursday 22nd October 2009 in Gloucestershire news

THE council, like the vast majority of organisations in the public sector, is constantly under pressure to make financial savings and at the same time to improve its performance.

One of the things we have to do is collect council tax. It’s the one tax that we all receive a bill for – so it won’t surprise you that it’s not the most popular of services that we provide!

Whilst we’re the tax collectors, as can be seen by the Stroud District Council logo at the head of the bill, it’s worth stating that only a small percentage of the money you pay comes to us. Last year just over 12% of the money collected went to this council. Over 70% went to the county council and the remainder to the police and parish and town councils, all to provide local services. That said, I’m pleased to highlight that this council’s performance on collecting council tax is excellent. Last year we collected 99.3% of council tax that was due, and sent it on to the aforementioned bodies. In fact this was the second highest collection rate out of over 320 councils in the country. At a time of recession it might seem a little insensitive to talk about collecting taxes but it is important to highlight that this money isn’t council money - it’s your money and it will be used to provide you with the services that you pay for. There’s a big difference between people who can’t pay and those that won’t pay. We work hard to ensure that those who try and avoid payment pay up, and that those in genuine need receive the help and support they are entitled to. So it’s also reassuring that the benefits team is performing well. Despite the recession creating a 12% increase in new benefit cases, the same team brought down the average processing time for claims from 22.7 days to 18.2 days. In fact, I have just been advised that this has now dropped to 14 days and a third of new claims are now processed on the very same day. We have to strike a fine balance between helping those who need help and pursuing those who avoid their obligations, but I hope you’ll be pleased with what we’re doing. Local taxes provide local people with local services so we all have to play our part. If anyone finds themselves in a position which means they find it difficult to pay their council tax, they should call us on 01453 754859…but if anyone out there is just trying to avoid payment, we’ll call them!