Fire service increases council tax (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Fire service increases council tax

7:23pm Friday 17th February 2012 in Somerset By Phil Hill

DEVON & Somerset Fire & Rescue Authority today decided to set its part of the council tax at £73.92 for the year 2012/13 for a Band D property.

The increase represents an extra 4p a week for the average household in Devon and Somerset, or £2.15 for the year, an increase of 3% on last year’s figure.

Authority chairman Cllr Mark Healey said: “This decision is about preserving the long term future of the fire and rescue service.

"People have said to us, don’t make cuts to the fire service, and we have listened to what they had to say.

“By taking the short term gift from the Government this year, we would be in an even worse position next year, and would be asking the public for a much larger increase.”

The decision means that the authority will not be eligible for the Government’s one-off council tax freeze grant.

By raising council tax instead, the authority has generated an additional £2.6million more than the grant would have provided by 2015.

Chief Fire Officer Lee Howell told members at the meeting: “There will be increasingly difficult decisions to make as we move forward and we have to think over the longer term.”

A consultation survey carried out on behalf of the service found that 51% of the public agreed it is reasonable for the authority to consider increasing its council tax charge, while 30% disagreed.

In addition, 84% of the public agreed that the service provided value for money.

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