06 January 2009Local residents pay for a proportion of the cost of their local services through the Council Tax. It is made up of five components. These cover Kent County Council, Sevenoaks District Council, your local town or parish council, Kent Police and Kent Fire & Rescue Service.
As an example, the band D Council Tax bill, which is an average bill, for 2008/2009 (running from 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009) is £1,422.70.
Each authority sets its own charge that contributes to the total. All components of the Council Tax are collected by Sevenoaks District Council and passed on to the relevant authority.
The table and chart below shows how much each authority charges at Band D, an average Council Tax charge for 2008/2009.
| Council Tax breakdown at band D |
||||
| 2007/8 | 2008/9 | |||
| Charge | % of charge | Charge | % of charge | |
Kent County Council |
£964.17 | 71% | £1,001.79 | 70% |
| Kent Fire & Rescue Service | £61.65 | 4% | £63.81 | 5% |
| Kent Police | £122.18 | 9% | £128.25 | 9% |
| Sevenoaks District Council | £160.38 | 12% | £168.39 | 12% |
| Average town or parish council | £54.84 | 4% | £60.46 | 4% |
| Total | £1,363.22 | £1,422.70 | ||
Pie chart illustrating 2008/9 charge:
Council Tax raises about £8.4m for the Council. The rest comes from Government support (£6.3m), interest from Council savings (£1.1m) and the Council's reserves (£1.3m). This gives a total of £17.1m available to the Council.
Pie chart illustrating where the funding comes from.
The Council currently has about £20m in the bank. Only £3m of this could be used to help balance the budget, which would be quickly used up unless Council Tax is increased or spending is reduced.
£6m is needed to maintain the Council's buildings, vehicles and computer systems and £6m is needed for a shortfall in Kent County Council's pension fund. A further £1m is for specific provisions and £1m is money from asset sales which cannot be spent on the running cost of services.
How the money is spent
Over the coming year, the Council will spend about £17.1m on services for local people. Council expenditure over the current and previous year are set out below:
| Service | 2007/8 | 2008/9 |
| Community and housing | £2.6m | £2.6m |
| Refuse collection and recycling | £2.1m | £2.2m |
| Environmental services and licensing | £1.4m | £1.4m |
| Housing benefits | £0.6m | £0.6m |
| Leisure services | £0.9m | £0.9m |
| Street cleaning and parking | £1.5m | £1.1m |
| Planning services | £2.9m | £3.0m |
| Other services | £4.2m | £4.6m |
| Asset maintenance | £0.7m | £0.7m |
| Total | £16.9m | £17.1m |
Further information
View the Council's budget book for 2008/09 (
PDF File 697KB file details) or see the Council's Statement of Accounts.
View the Council's budget book for 2007/08 ( PDF 832K file details).
More information about Council Tax in your local area is available in the Council Tax section of this site.
For further information, please write to Dr Pav Ramewal, Corporate Resources Director, Chief Financial Officer, Council Offices, Argyle Road, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1HG or e-mail finance@sevenoaks.gov.uk
