Council Tax Charge Details 2008/09

The average Band D charge in the Borough excluding the Parishes, Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority and Police Authority's requirements is £1,017.88 representing a 2.4% increase over the previous year.

Including the Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority, Police Authority and average Parish Precept, the Band D charge is £1215.18 representing an increase year on year of 2.7%. The charge is made up of four elements:-

Borough Council Charge

This Council decides how much it needs to collect in order to provide its services effectively (Refuse collection, street cleaning, leisure centres and swimming pools, parks and recreation grounds, car and coach parks, planning and building control, environmental health, education, social services, highways , traffic management and Road Safety, transport, fire, waste disposal, courts and probation, libraries, etc.)

The Council's budget requirement for 2008/2009 is £84.1M - of which approx £18.3M is paid for by the Government in Grant and in redistributed Business Rates, the rest must be met by local Council Tax payers.

View the leaflet giving details of the Council Tax for 2008/2009.  The leaflet also gives details of the Council's spending plans, etc, which is sent out with the annual bill.

Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority

The Berkshire Fire and Rescue Authority (BFRA) tells this Council how much to collect to enable them to provide Fire and Rescue services.

The BFRA requirement in 2008/09 is £3.4M, which equates to a Band D charge of £50.09.  The equivalent charge for 2007/2008 would have been £50.09.  This therefore represents an increase of 4.89%.

The BFRA element accounts for approximately 4.3% of the total Council Tax charge.

Police Authority Charge

The Thames Valley Police Authority tells this Council how much to collect to enable them to provide Police services.
In 2008/2009 the Police Authority's requirement is £9.3M which equates to a Band D Council Tax charge of £144.76 an increase of 4% (last year's Band D figure was £139.19).

This Police Authority element accounts for approximately 11.9% of the total Council Tax charge.

A leaflet from the Police Authority is available giving details of spending plans, etc.

Parish Council Charges

Each Parish Council tells this Council how much to collect to enable them to provide their services (Recreation Grounds, allotments, footpath lighting, local planning issues, Parish administration, village halls etc).  Find out the contact details for the Parish Council's in the Royal Borough.

In 2008/2009 the total parish requirement is £1,041,104 and the Band D Council Tax figures for individual Parishes are as follows:-

Maidenhead and Windsor Towns - Special expenses element

Since the main towns of Maidenhead and Windsor do not have a Parish Council, an amount referred to as 'special expenses' is levied to cover service costs equivalent to Parish charges above.

In 2008/2009 the total special expenses required is £1,074,953 and the Band D Council Tax figure for Maidenhead and Windsor towns is £32.84 (which is the average of the Parish charges).

NB. Since the tax setting process is an economic and political decision, there is no right of appeal against the level of charge set by Councils, the only recourse is to make your views known to your local Councillor(s) who in effect set the tax.