COUNCIL tax bills for the typical household in Downend will top £2,500 for the first time this year.
Band D tax payers living in the area covered by Downend & Bromley Heath Parish Council is set to pay an extra £129.60 or 5.44% from April when increases in charges from South Gloucestershire Council, the parish council, police and fire service are added up, taking the total bill to £2,510.99.
People living in the area covered by Staple Hill & Mangotsfield Parish Council will have slightly lower bills, adding up to £2,496.81, while Band D taxpayers in the area covered by Emersons Green Town Council will see bills reach £2,548.99.
Charges vary according to property values, with this year’s overall bill in Downend ranging from £1,674 for Band A householders to £5,021.98 for people with homes in Band H.
South Gloucestershire Council approved a 4.99% increase – the maximum allowed without calling a referendum – at its annual budget meeting in February.
It takes the authority’s basic charge to residents with homes in the average Band D tax bracket up by £94.66, from £1,904.91 to £1,999.57.
The council also levies a ‘special expenses’ charge for neighbourhood facilities it provides, which can include upkeep of neighbourhood parks and open spaces where it runs them.
The rest of the overall bill is made up of charges from other public bodies.
Avon & Somerset’s police and crime commissioner Clare Moody is raising charges for a Band D tax payer by £15 (5.12%) from £293.20 to £308.20.
Avon Fire Authority is raising its annual charge by £5 or 5.53%, to to £95.43.
Town and parish councils are not subject to government restrictions on how much they can raise charges without calling a referendum.
The Band D charge levied by Downend & Bromley Heath Parish Council has gone up by £12.78 or 18.68%, from £68.43 to £81.21, after the council raised its overall budget by £60,748 or £19%, to £380,473.
The special expenses charge in Downend has risen by 8.85% or £2.16, to £26.58 in Band D, the final element in the £129.60 increase.
Emersons Green Town Council, which covers some areas of Mangotsfield and Downend, has frozen its precept budget at £816,102 this year.
Its charge to a Band D taxpayer has fallen by 89p or 0.75%, from £117.93 to £117.04.
This is because last year the town council mistakenly asked South Gloucestershire Council to increase its precept from £584,600 to £816,102, instead of the intended £599,215 – putting the charge to Band D tax payers went up by 40.9%.
The “administrative oversight” was not noticed until after bills were sent out, and the town council said it would keep the extra money in a savings account towards a “reduced or frozen” precept this year.
An increase in the number of homes in the area paying council tax, from 6,920 to 6,973, means the town council’s charge to individual households has gone down slightly.
However, a £1.68 increase in special expenses charges, and the increases to other parts of the bill mean the overall charge is still up 4.74% or £115.45 on last year in Band D, totalling £2,548.99.
Staple Hill & Mangotsfield Parish Council has increased its budget by £24,005 or 15.81%, from £151,795 to £175,800 this year, with the precept rising by £5.64 or 14.99%, from £37.62 to £43.26 in Band D.
Special expenses – which include the upkeep of Page Park – have gone up by £7.81 or 18.36% to £50.35, and the overall bill to Band D council tax payers is £2,496.81, up 5.41%.
The lowest overall bills in the area are for residents of Frenchay, which is part of Winterbourne parish.
There the parish council has increased its charge to Band D taxpayers by £4.77 or 9.27%, from £51.46 to £56.23, and the special expenses bill is up by 58p from £7.64 to £8.22.
The parish budget has risen by £25,370 or 11.37%, from £223,065 to £248,435 .
Overall band D bills for Frenchay residents are up £120.01, from £2,347.64 to £2,467.65, a rise of 5.11%.
The highest council tax bills in South Gloucestershire are in Filton, where the town council pays for facilities including a leisure centre. Its Band D charge is £321.68, and total bills are £2,735.60, this year.
