Council tax 2012-13


Getting more for your money Freezing tax


Reducing management


 The council will cut the number of directors from six to three and the number of assistant directors from 26 to 12. The changes will save approximately £780,000 a year.


 The council is looking for further savings, working ‘from the top down’, wherever possible, safeguarding frontline posts where it can.


 The council has managed to reduce its workforce. It has done this mainly through a vacancy freeze, retirements, changes to working arrangements and planned staff turnover, although some redundancies may be necessary where redeployment is not possible.


Cutting costs


The council actively seeks other ways in which it can do things differently in order to keep services but at a lower cost. For example:


 North and North East Lincolnshire councils have entered into a shared agreement to provide a joint local taxation and benefits service. This will save taxpayers £1.3m. The agreement involves sharing housing and council tax benefits administration, and revenues collection (council tax and non- domestic rates).


 It is cutting the cost of financing construction projects and its vehicle fleet by using its own resources rather than borrowing or leasing.


The council is also finding ways to reduce spending on


‘back office’ functions so that money can be re-directed to front-line services. These include:


 Services across the council are saving on travel, office supplies, advertising and training.


 Over £256,000 is being cut from spending on communications across the council.


 Improved lighting to its buildings will save over £1m in 14


energy bills over the next 20 years and reduce its carbon footprint. The investment will save 280 tonnes of carbon and over £53,000 each year. It is also looking at ways to make street lighting more energy- efficient.


Also, council facilities can be run more cost-effectively. For


example:  Goxhill library is now run by volunteers. A similar arrangement could work in other locations.  The council is also looking at ways of managing sport, leisure and culture facilities to meet the needs of the local community. It already owns facilities managed by others on behalf of the local community, such as the Baths Hall and Baysgarth House Museum.


Better value is achieved on services provided by outside suppliers, for example by:


 Procuring new recycling collection services, and


 Bringing its household recycling centre management in-house.


 There will be no increase in the amounts that the council charges local people for their services.


 People in North Lincolnshire will see an increase in the size of their council tax bill this year, as the police authority has increased its share of the bill.


 There may be slight variations in the charges levied by parish and town councils which are included in the bill.


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