Council Tax Collections

Figures are out for uncollected Council Tax for 2004/05. Here are the numbers and rankings for the Cornish Districts, for 03/04 followed by 04/05

149..... North Cornwall...... 701,000 .......1,176,000
226..... Carrick ....................804,000 ..........796,000
243..... Restormel............... 634,000 ..........718,000
256 .....Caradon.................. 494,000........... 676,000
286 .....Kerrier.................... 733,000........... 526,000
327 .....Penwith................... 277,000........... 356,000
351 .....Isles of Scilly............. 19,000.............. 22,000

Totals for 03/04 0f 3,662,00 and for 04/05 of 4,270,000

What does all this mean. Well the residents of Carrick and Kerrier have benefited from improvements in collections, but something shocking seems to be going on in North Cornwall. I've alerted LibDem Councillors up there to this, and they are asking questions.

But there's still a awful lot of money outstanding, just as we seem to be needing to cut budgets. And could it be about to get worse? In 2009 we go Unitary. The total outstanding for all of Cornwall puts us on a par with Southampton, also a Unitary, and ranked 32nd. But the population of Southampton is only half that of Cornwall, making the average debt per Southampton resident twice what it is here. There is a very real danger that people might take their eye of the ball, during the reorganisation, and we could end up with double the debt here, and a whole load of budget cutting as a result.

Lets make sure we keep a careful eye on this one.