Crime chief vows to fight for tax rise
Controversial tax rises planned
North Yorkshire’s police commissioner has insisted she will persevere with her proposed 10.3 per cent increase to the county force’s share of council tax after a scrutiny committee refused to approve the plans.
The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel vetoed the proposal by Julia Mulligan.
NORTH YORKSHIRE’S police commissioner has insisted she will persevere with her proposed 10.3 per cent increase to the county force’s share of council tax after a scrutiny committee refused to approve the plans.
The North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel vetoed the proposals put forward by Julia Mulligan after its members said they needed more detail, adding that there was “a lack of assurance about where the extra money would be spent”.
The proposed increase to the precept would have seen the police’s element of the annual council tax bill in North Yorkshire rise by £23.95 to £256.77 for a Band D property in 2019/20.
Police and crime commissioners, who are responsible for setting the budgets for local forces, were told before Christmas they could raise their precepts by a maximum of £24 a year for a Band D property.
The Government says forces nationwide could get £970m in extra funding in 2019/20, but £500m of that is dependent on introducing the £24 annual increase, prompting criticism that Ministers were “shunting the cost of policing” onto the general public.
Labour crime commissioners for South and West Yorkshire and Humberside are proposing the maximum possible increases.
The proposals for North Yorkshire were discussed at a meeting where councillors were told of “a significant level of dissatisfaction about policing in North Yorkshire”.
Coun Carl Les, who chairs the panel, said: “Rejecting the commissioner’s proposal was not a decision taken lightly by the panel and we understand the public’s need to have a more visible policing presence in York and North Yorkshire.
“But an increase of more than 10 per cent is simply too much to ask people to pay without further information about how aspects of local policing will be improved.”
In response Conservative Mrs Mulligan, who also has oversight of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said she was “disappointed” by the decision.
She said the proposal was to provide a “one-off uplift” of £3.6m to the baseline budget of North Yorkshire Police and that future increases would be lower.
She said: “My proposals were crystal clear about boosting visible policing by an additional 50 police officers and 20 PCSOs, bringing North Yorkshire Police almost back to 2010 levels of resources.
“Those new resources would then be split between additional officers and PCSOs for local and visible policing teams across the county to tackle offences like burglaries and anti-social behaviour, a new ‘city task force’ for York, more work on mental health and brand new teams focusing on prevention and early intervention.”
Rejecting the commissioner’s proposal was not a decision taken lightly. Carl Les, who chairs the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel.
WHEN POLICING Minister Nick Hurd announced a new £970m funding settlement for hard-pressed forces last year, the offer came with a considerable sting in the tail – more than half of the money was to be raised through local Police and Crime Commissioners imposing higher council tax bills.
The impact of that policy, allowing commissioners to charge an extra £24 per year to the average household through the police precept element of council tax, is now playing out in this region, where politicians on the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel have vetoed a planned increase of 10.3 per cent put forward by local PCC Julia Mulligan.
The panel has demanded more information on what the extra money would be used for and a revised proposal, while Ms Mulligan has responded by saying her “crystal clear” plans for the rise would allow North Yorkshire Police to hire an additional 50 police officers and 20 PCSOs – bringing the force close to staffing levels last seen pre-austerity in 2010; a laudable plan by any stretch of the imagination.
While it is understandable that the panel is anxious to ensure increasingly hard-pressed households receive value for money, it is important to consider the context of the proposals. The maximum £24 increase is also due to be adopted by each of the South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Humberside forces – with percentage increases of 14 per cent in the first two areas and 12 per cent in the latter.
Each regional police commissioner has expressed regret at being put in an invidious position, suggesting that such large rises will not be repeated in future years whilst adding that implementing the increases is vital to deliver more effective forces.
With North Yorkshire particularly affected by complex and resourceintensive issues such as rural crime and ‘county lines’ drug dealing networks, its force cannot afford to be left behind.