Witney News - West Oxfordshire's Council Tax remains second lowest

West Oxfordshire's Council Tax remains second lowest

Figures released by the Government show that West Oxfordshire District Council is, once again, charging the second lowest council tax rate out of all the 201 shire district councils in England.

West Oxfordshire District Council's share of the Council Tax for a Band D property in 2014/15 is set at £81.63 a year, which breaks down to £1.50 a week for providing all its services including waste and recycling collections, environmental health, leisure centres, housing and planning.

The District Council has been praised by Government for freezing its Council Tax charge for the fourth year running and official figures show that by doing this the District Council's element of the bill has actually fallen in real-terms by 13%.

Cllr Simon Hoare, Cabinet Member for Resources said: "It is excellent news for our residents that West Oxfordshire District Council is recognised as one of the leading authorities in the country for providing low-cost value for money services. This has been achieved through careful planning and an on-going efficiency savings programme which we started to put in place to allow us to weather the impact on local government that the recent economic difficulties the Government inherited presented."

At £81.63 a year West Oxfordshire District Council's Council Tax rate is half the national average and is the lowest of the five Oxfordshire district councils.

West Oxfordshire's share of the Council Tax bill is about 5% of the overall bill that Oxfordshire taxpayers receive. The bulk of the bill (79%) is payable to Oxfordshire County Council to cover major services such as Education, Highways, Social Services and the Fire and Rescue Service. The rest of the bill covers police and parish / town council services.