SOMERSET’S newest council could add an average of £5 to ratepayers’ bills when it sets its first budget.

Somerset West and Taunton Council will officially be replacing Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council on April 1, 2019, ahead of the local elections in May.

The council is currently operating as a ‘shadow authority’ and is overseeing the transfer of all powers and responsibilities to the new body – including the ability to set its annual budget.

The council has published early predictions of what its income and expenditure will be up between now and 2023/24, in what is known as its medium-term financial plan (MTFP).

But its calculations are based on raising the Band D council tax rate by the highest possible level in 2019/20 – with Taunton Deane residents facing the biggest rise.

An update on the MTFP and council tax rates came before the authority’s shadow scrutiny committee, which met in Taunton on Tuesday afternoon (September 18).

Andrew Stark, the council’s interim financial services manager, said that the proposed rise had been informed by advice by central government.

He said in his written report: “The government remains minded to keep to the same principles as in 2018/19, so that a shire district council in a two-tier area will be allowed an increase of up to three per cent, or up to and including £5, whichever is higher.”

The Band D council tax levels (which is used as an average measurement) is currently £152.88 per year for Taunton Deane and £155.56 per month for West Somerset.

Under current proposals, all Band D residents within the newly-created district will face a monthly bill of £157.88 – a rise of £5 on the current Taunton Deane rate, or £2.22 on the West Somerset rate.

A spokesperson for Taunton Deane Borough Council said: "TDBC collects council tax on behalf of the other preceptors including Somerset County Council, the Police and Fire Authority.

"The £152.88 referred to in the report is an annual amount and only relates to the Taunton Deane Borough share of the council tax." 

For the current 2018/19 year the total band D council tax is £1,644.34 and is split as follows between the relevant precepting bodies:

Taunton Deane £152.88

Somerset Rivers authority £14.58

Somerset County Council  £1,179.32

Police £193.81

Fire    £84.01

Parish Council average £19.74

Total £1,644.34

Mr Stark said that an increase of this amount would give the new authority an annual budget of £8,897,000.

For every following year (i.e. from 2020/21 onwards), council tax is expected to rise by 2.99 per cent per year – the maximum level which is allowed without the council having to hold a referendum.

Mr Stark said that the rise in council tax would generate an extra £98,000 a year for the work of the Somerset Rivers Authority (SRA), which coordinates major flood prevention work across the county.

The SRA cannot currently raise its own precept, with its funding coming from a section of the council tax raised from all local authorities in Somerset.

Somerton and Frome MP David Warburton has been attempting to change this via a private members’ bill; the latest such attempt will come before the House of Commons on October 26.

Mr Stark also said that the council was looking at how retention of business rates would affect council tax levels in the future.

He said: “We are currently exploring the opportunity to bid to become a pilot in 2019/20 for 75 per cent business rates retention with other Somerset councils.”

The government announced in its 2015 autumn statement that it wanted local authorities to keep 100 per cent of business rates income by 2020.

However, this has now been delayed, with a 75 per cent retention rate being targeted for 2020/21.

The proposed council tax levels will receive final approval by the shadow executive, which will meet in Williton on September 26.

The new authority will set its final budget, including the council tax levels, at a full council meeting on February 21, 2019.